The Pure LandThe year is 1858. Thomas Glover is a gutsy eighteen-year-old who grasps the chance of escape to foreign lands and takes a posting as a trader in Japan. Within ten years he amasses a great fortune, learns the ways of the samurai, and, on the other side of the law, brings about the overthrow of the Shogun. Yet beneath Glover's astonishing success lies a man cut to the heart. His love affair with a courtesan - a woman who, unknown to him, would bear him the son for which he had always longed - would form a tragedy so dramatic as to be immortalised in the stories behind Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon. The Pure Land relives in fiction the arc of Glover's true-life rise and fall, and forges a hundred-year saga that culminates in the annihilation of Nagasaki in 1945. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
already asked bowed breath bridge British brought building called carried caught Choshu clan clear closed continued Daimyo dark door empty eyes face father feel feet felt fire followed foreign forward front gave Glover gone guards hair half hand hard he’d head heard held It’s Japan Japanese keep knew land laughed leave light living looked Mackenzie Maki Matsuo meet mind Mister moved Nagasaki never night nodded once Parkes passed picked raised rest round samurai Satow Satsuma seemed seen sense ships Shogun side smell smiled sound step stood stopped suddenly sure sword talk tell thanked thing thought tiger told took Tsuru turned voice waiting walked Walsh watched whole young