Showing results by author "Lian Hearn" in All Categories

An international best seller, Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn. In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace.

A beautiful, haunting evocation of the medieval Japan of Lian Hearn's imagination, this thrilling follow-up to Grass for His Pillow and Across the Nightingale Floor delves deeper into the complex loyalties that bind its characters from birth.... In the third volume of the phenomenal series that began with the best-selling Across the Nightingale Floor and then Grass For His Pillow, the teenage lovers, Takeo and Kaede, are now married.

An ambitious warrior leaves his nephew for dead and seizes his lands. A stubborn father forces his younger son to give up his wife to his older brother. A woman of the Old People seeks five fathers for her five children, the Spider Tribe, born from cocoons. A powerful priest trains a young disciple, Shikanoko, who has been made a sorcerer against his will. An intricate tapestry has been woven for two rival clans to enter a savage battle over who will be crowned emperor of the Eight Islands.

Takeo, désormais héritier du puissant clan des Otori, s'est engagé à rejoindre les rangs criminels de la Tribu, reniant ainsi son éducation pacifique, abandonnant ce qui lui revient de droit, territoire, fortune et pouvoir, renonçant aussi à son amour pour Kaede. Mais la Tribu peut-elle éloigner Takeo de son destin ? Le chemin qu'il choisit le conduira au paroxysme du danger, de l'épreuve et du sacrifice, au cœur des montagnes glacées du Pays du Milieu.

Heaven's Net is Wide is the first and last tale that both closes the circle and introduces readers to the strange and beautiful world of the Otori. It is an epic historical fantasy of revenge and betrayal, honour and loyalty, beauty and passion and the overwhelming power of love, set in a mystical, medieval Japan, which will enthral readers the world over.

From the author of the phenomenal and best-selling Tales of the Otori series comes a new stand-alone historical novel set in 19th century Japan. For centuries Japan has been on its own; isolated by choice from the rest of the world. But the Western powers are now at its shores, its government is crumbling and revolution is building. The age of the samurai is ending and in its place a new Japan will be born. Into this turmoil steps a young woman.

Au XIVe siècle, dans un Japon médiéval mythique, le jeune Takeo grandit au sein d'une communauté paisible qui condamne la violence. Mais celle-ci est massacrée par les hommes d'Iida, chef du clan des Tohan. Takeo est sauvé et adopté par sire Shigeru, chef du clan des Otori, et se retrouve plongé au cœur de luttes sanglantes entre les seigneurs de la guerre. Il doit suivre son destin. Mais qui est-il ? Paysan, seigneur ou assassin ? D'où tient-il ses dons prodigieux ?

The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the dazzling continuation of the Tales of the Otori, an unforgettable epic with a vast emotional landscape, a classic work that crosses genres, genders and generations.‘Their realm is held in balance by their union ... Break that union and the Three Countries will fall apart.’Otori Takeo and Kaede have ruled the Three Countries peacefully for over 16 years, following the events laid out in the epic Tales of the Otori.

Books 1 and 2 in The Tale of Shikanoko series. The first instalment in a magnificent epic by the creator of the global phenomenon the Tales of the Otori, Lian Hearn, whose books have sold over four million copies worldwide. An ambitious warlord leaves his nephew for dead and seizes his lands. A stubborn father forces his younger son to surrender his wife to his older brother. A mysterious woman seeks five fathers for her children. A powerful priest meddles in the succession to the Lotus Throne.

Japan, 1857. For centuries Japan has been on its own; isolated by choice from the rest of the world. But the Western powers are now at its shores demanding to be let in, the government is crumbling and revolution is building. The age of the samurai is ending and in its place a new Japan will be born.A young woman is readying herself for marriage in this, the most tumultuous period of her nation’s history.

"Tu conquerras la paix en cinq batailles : quatre victoires et une défaite." Takeo parviendra-t-il à apporter la paix sur les Trois Pays comme l'annonce la prophétie ? Après leur union secrète au temple de Terayama, Takeo et Kaede sont plus résolus que jamais à prendre possession de leur héritage et venger sire Shigeru. Mais, tandis que Takeo rassemble ses troupes et s'apprête à mener le grand combat, Kaede tombe dans un piège diabolique...

Against a background of wild forest, elegant castles, hidden temples and savage battlefields, the adventure that began with Emperor of the Eight Islands draws to its thrilling conclusion. The rightful emperor is lost. Shikanoko is condemned to live, half man and half deer, an outlaw in the Darkwood. Yet the mighty lords who now rule the Eight Islands are prey to suspicion and illness, and drought and famine choke the realm. Only Shikanoko can bring healing by restoring the preordained ruler to the Lotus Throne.

Books 3 and 4 in The Tale of Shikanoko series. The second and final instalment of The Tale of Shikanoko: a bold epic of a fantastical medieval Japan from the creator of the global phenomenon Tales of the Otori, Lian Hearn, whose books have sold over four million copies worldwide. Against a background of wild forest, elegant castles, hidden temples and savage battlefields, the adventure that began with Emperor of the Eight Islands draws to its thrilling conclusion in Lord of the Darkwood, the second instalment of Lian Hearn's the Tale of Shikanoko.

Takeo has pledged his life to the secret Tribe. His supernatural skills of invisibility and acute hearing make him their most deadly assassin. But he must deny the spiritual vows of his upbringing, his birthright of Otori wealth, land, and power, and his love for Kaede. If he does not serve the Tribe, they will kill him. In growing from boy to man, Takeo chooses a path of danger and vengeance, and learns of the prophecy that shapes his destiny.

Brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his.

Otori Takeo and the beautiful Kaede are now married. But the inescapable forces of destiny that have bound their lives from birth make their happiness an impossible dream. Takeo, still only 17, must raise an army to reclaim his Otori lands, and fulfil the prophecy of the blind sage: "Peace comes at the price of bloodshed. Four battles to win and one to lose". And he can never be free from the invisible assassins of the secret Tribe who have vowed to kill him.

As a boy, Arai Sunaomi, was known as the Miracle Child and crossed between the worlds to walk among the dead. Now, he has put aside his past to follow the way of the warrior. His aunt, Kaede, is considering making him her heir, and her General, Miyoshi Kahei, hopes to betroth Sunaomi to his daughter, Kinu. But there is one girl whom Sunaomi cannot forget: Utahime, who has been dead for seven years. Will he dare bring her back to life?

Taking place in the magical medieval world of Tales of the Otori and following on from The Harsh Cry of the Heron, Orphan Warriors is a coming-of-age adventure story in a human world of courage and sacrifice, behind which always hovers a supernatural world of danger and dread.