Across the Nightingale Floor
‘Quite simply the best story of magic, love, revenge and suspense to have come this way since Philip Pullman’ – Independent on Sunday
Set in a mythical feudal land, a world both beautiful and cruel, the intense love story of two young people takes place against a background of warring clans, secret alliances, high honour and lightning swordplay.
In his palace at Inuyama, Lord Iida Sadamu, warlord of the Tohan clan, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Its surface sings at the tread of every human foot, and no assassin can cross it unheard. But sixteen-year-old Otori Takeo, his family murdered by Iida’s warriors, has the magical skills of the Tribe – preternatural hearing, invisibility, a second self – that enable him to enter the lair of the Tohan. He has love in his heart and death at his fingertips . . .
Lian Hearn’s powerful bestseller Across the Nightingale Floor is an epic work of historical fantasy for readers young and old.
Part of the Picador Collection, showcasing the best of modern literature.
Lian Hearn studied modern languages at Oxford University and worked as a film critic and arts editor in London before settling in Australia. A lifelong interest in Japan led to the study of the Japanese language, many trips to Japan and culminated in the writing of the Tales of the Otori series.
Hearn is also the author of a two-volume prequel series to the ‘Tales of the Otori’, ‘The Tale of Shikanoko’, consisting of Emperor of the Eight Islands and Lord of the Darkwood.