Shogun: A Novel of Japan

Nicholas Trelawney, Mail on Sunday 'A passionate portrait of suffering ... a strange and gripping tale of a nation's deflowerment' The Times 'A herculean achievement . . . strong plot and strong characterisation' Daily Telegraph 'A world of intrigue, violence and betrayal, where the only certainty is that that no-one can be trusted' Chicago Sun-Times 'GAI-JIN is a major read' New York Times 'A grand historical perspective . . . absorbing . . . full of rich characters and complicated action' 

This is James Clavell's tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world.Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country.

James Clavell, the son of a Royal Navy family, was educated in Portsmouth before, as a young artillery officer, he was captured by the Japanese at the Fall of Singapore. It was on this experience that his bestselling novel KING RAT was based. He maintained this oriental interest in his other great works: TAI-PAN, SHOGUN, NOBLE HOUSE and GAI JIN.

My bet for the most satisfyingly popular novel of the year ... It has power, it has violence, subtlety and lots, lots more ... Clavell never puts a foot wrong ... Get it, read it, you'll enjoy it mightily' -- Daily Mirror 'SHOGUN is a huge exotic, blood-stained canvas of sixteenth century but still medieval Japan, rival warlords and proselytising Jesuits, geishas, seppuku, samurai with the death-with and a shipwrecked Elizabethan' -- Guardian 'Mr Clavell tells his story brilliantly' -- The Times 'One of the great page turners of all time' -- Good Book Guide 20020208 'I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one. It's irresistable, maybe unforgettable. Clavell ... creates a world so enveloping you forget who and where you are' -- New York Times 20020208