Shipwrecks (Harvest Book) - Softcover

Yoshimura, Akira

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156008351 ISBN 13: 9780156008358

Publisher: HarperVia, 2000

Synopsis

Isaku is a nine-year-old boy living in a remote, desperately poor fishing village on the coast of Japan. His people catch barely enough fish to live on, and so must distill salt to sell to neighboring villages. But this industry serves another, more sinister purpose: the fires of the salt cauldrons lure passing ships toward the shore and onto rocky shoals. When a ship runs aground, the villagers slaughter the crew and loot the cargo for rice, wine, and rich delicacies. One day a ship founders on the rocks. But Isaku learns that its cargo is far deadlier than could ever be imagined. Shipwrecks, the first novel by the great Japanese writer Yoshimura to be translated into English, is a stunningly powerful, Gothic tale of fate and retribution.

About this title

Review:

Although Akira Yoshimura is one of Japan's most prolific and celebrated authors, his work is little known outside of his native country. Shipwrecks, one of the first of his 20 novels to be translated into English, tells the tale of Isaku, a 9-year-old boy who is forced to scrounge to provide for his desperately poor family. For the people of the medieval Japanese village in which Isaku lives, the only relief from near starvation comes in the guise of the shipwrecks of the title. To lure merchant ships off course, the villagers light huge bonfires. But even their success turns to disaster when the wreckage of one such ship includes not only rice, but smallpox.

About the Author:

Akira Yoshimura is the prize-winning author of twenty novels and short-story collections, many of them bestsellers in Japan. One Man's Justice is his third novel to be translated into English.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperVia
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0156008351
• ISBN 13: 9780156008358
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192