Across the Nightingale Floor : Tales of the Otori Book 1 by Lian Hearn (Riverhead Books) ~Ernie Hoyt

Lian Hearn is the pen name for Gillian Rubinstein, a British-born children’s writer and playwright. Across the Nightingale Floor is the first of three books in her adult-oriented series Tales of the Otori which continues with Grass for HIs Pillow and concludes with Brilliance of the Moon.

The story is set in a fictional country that’s modeled after feudal Japan. According to the author’s note, “Neither the setting nor the period is intended to correspond to any true historical era, though echoes of many Japanese customs and traditions will be found, and the landscape and seasons are those of Japan. 

Hearn has also used Japanese names for most of the cities and towns which are also mostly fictional except for the towns of Hagi and Matsue. In the story she has placed these two towns in their true geographical positions. Also, the only character based on a real person is Sesshu, a Japanese zen monk and artist who she felt was “impossible to replicate”. 

The story opens with a young boy named Tomasu picking mushrooms alone in the mountains near his rural home of Mino. He and the people he lives among are members of the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who believe in the ways of peace. 

However, unbeknownst to Tomas, his father was a member of the Tribe, a group of well-trained assassins who also possess preternatural skills such as having the capacity to hear better than dogs and being able to make themselves appear in two places at one time. 

The day that Tomasu went picking mushrooms was the same day that the warlord Sadamu Iida of the Tohan and his men pillaged his village. Tomasu was the only surviving member of that massacre. Tomasu was rescued and later adopted by the Lord of the Otori, Shigeru Otori. As Tomasu was a name known among the Hidden, Lord Otori has Tomasu change his name to Takeo. 

Takeo later meets Kenji Muto of the Muto Clan. Muto tells Takeo that he knew Takeo’s father. He tells him that his father was the most skilled assassin of the Kikuta, the greatest family of the Tribe. Muto then trains Takeo in the ways of the Tribe. Takeo is able to hone his hearing skills and has listened in on a conversation between Shigeru’s two older brothers who are plotting to ally themselves with Iida.

The elder brothers tell Shigeru that they will let him adopt Takeo on the condition that he marries Kaede Shirakawa, a beautiful girl of fifteen who has been held prisoner by the Noguchi, one of the families of the Tohan, since she was seven. 

Lord Shigeru Otori has two older brothers who want to make peace with the Tohan but Shgeru does not trust Iida. He has already seen the cruelty of the Tohan firsthand. He is also aware of his brother’s plans thanks to the listening powers of Takeo. However, Shigeru decides to placate his brother and says he will accept their condition. He also tells his brothers that since Takeo is soon to be his adopted son, that Takeo should come with him. 

It’s one plot twist after another as Shigeru has no intention of marrying Kaede and has a totally different reason for bringing Takeo with him. Shigeru and Takeo know they are going into the lion’s den, but will their gamble pay off. And what will become of Kaede Shirakawa?

If you love stories like James Clavell’s Shogun and Eric van Lustbader’s The Sunset Warrior Cycle then you will be sure to enjoy the action, romance, and intrigue in Tales of the Otori.