Silk

Small 8vo. Pp. [iv], 91, [1 (blank)]. Dark blue cloth boards lettered in gilt to spine.

Boldly signed by Author to title page.

Translated from the Italian by Guido Waldman. An immediate best seller upon first publication by Rizzoli in 1996 under the title Seta, it has subsequently been translated into 16 languages.

Author's fourth novel, set in 1861 when Japan was officially closed to foreigners, during its sakoku isolationist period. A tale of erotic possession, in which a Frenchman makes four long, clandestine journeys to Japan to buy silk worm eggs for France's ailing silk industry, and falls under the spell of a shogun's concubine.

"A heart-breaking love story told in the form of a classic fable... A stylistic tour de force, its rhythms and effects evocative of a crisp and haunting haiku... A literary gem of bewitching power." –Sunday Times