Grass for His Pillow
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4.4 • 72 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Enter the feudal world of the Otori – filled with magic, treachery and intrigue – inspired by medieval Japan and created by acclaimed Australian author, Lian Hearn.
Grass for His Pillow is the second book in the five-part Tales of the Otori series. More than four million copies have been sold in over 36 countries; now the series is available as ebooks for the first time.
‘The best story of magic, love, sex, revenge and suspense to have come this way since Philip Pullman’ Independent On Sunday (UK)
In the ancient lands of the Otori, in a time of war and famine, the fate of the young lovers Otori Takeo and Shirakawa Kaede hangs in the balance.
Takeo, heir to the great Otori clan, has pledged his life to the secret Tribe. To follow their brutal directions and become their most deadly assassin he must deny the spiritual vows of his peaceful upbringing, his birthright of wealth, land and power – and his love for Kaede. If he turns his back on the Tribe they will kill him. Forced to take a path that leads him to extreme danger Takeo grows from boy to man
Kaede, heiress to vast lands, is now the valuable pawn of ruthless warlords. She must use her intelligence, beauty and cunning to assert her place in a world of all-powerful men – who must never suspect the dangerous secret she hides.
‘A classic in the making’ Sydney Morning Herald
Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori series of five novels has sold over four million copies. She is also the author of Blossoms and Shadows and The Storyteller and His Three Daughters. Lian Hearn has made many trips to Japan and has studied Japanese.
Visit Lian Hearn at facebook.com/lianhearnauthor and www.lianhearn.com
PRAISE FOR THE TALES OF THE OTORI
‘An engrossing fantasy saga of literary quality.’ The Age
‘an enthralling and original work of fantasy’ The Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The pseudonymous Hearn's second thrilling installment of her Tales of the Otori trilogy (after 2002's Across the Nightingale Floor) is once again set in a magic-haunted version of medieval Japan where no one wields unchallenged authority and no one is safe. The swirl of treacherous, shifting clan alliances threatens to overwhelm young lovers and aristocrats Takeo and Kaede. Separated throughout most of the action, the two must develop their talents while trying to maintain their integrity. Takeo possesses superhuman gifts such as the ability to become invisible, project a double image of himself and hear distant conversations; however, he must discipline his skills and control his impetuous temper. He also must work out his relationship with the Tribe, a treacherous secret organization of spies and assassins that saved his life but that may have murdered his father. Kaede, meanwhile, has to escape the powerless role of a woman if she is to protect herself and her family domain from predatory neighbors. Adept at creating vivid natural settings where the supernatural feels unusually plausible, Hearn catches fresh details of trees, birds, rivers and mountains. With quick, direct sentences like brushstrokes on a Japanese scroll, she suggests vast and mysterious landscapes full of both menace and wonder. Hearn shows that middle novels of trilogies don't have to simply fill space between an exciting opening and conclusion.
