Across the Nightingale Floor

Tales of the Otori Book One

Author Lian Hearn
An international bestseller, Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn. Don't miss the related series, The Tale of Shikanoko.

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. But unbeknownst to him, his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe, an ancient network of families with extraordinary, preternatural skills. When Takeo's village is pillaged, he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru, he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And, with this knowledge, he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor—and to his own unimaginable destiny...

  • WINNER
    Carnegie Medal
  • WINNER
    Dutscher Jugendliteratur-preis
  • WINNER
    New York Times Notable Book
  • WINNER
    Peter Pan Award
  • WINNER
    Prix Litterature in the La Nuit De Lire
Lian Hearn is the pseudonym for a writer, currently living in Australia, who has a lifelong interest in Japan, has lived there, and speaks Japanese. Riverhead will publish Hearn's next book, Heaven's Net Is Wide: The First Tale of the Otori, the prequel to the Otori series, in 2007. View titles by Lian Hearn

About

An international bestseller, Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hearn. Don't miss the related series, The Tale of Shikanoko.

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. But unbeknownst to him, his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe, an ancient network of families with extraordinary, preternatural skills. When Takeo's village is pillaged, he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru, he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And, with this knowledge, he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor—and to his own unimaginable destiny...

Awards

  • WINNER
    Carnegie Medal
  • WINNER
    Dutscher Jugendliteratur-preis
  • WINNER
    New York Times Notable Book
  • WINNER
    Peter Pan Award
  • WINNER
    Prix Litterature in the La Nuit De Lire

Author

Lian Hearn is the pseudonym for a writer, currently living in Australia, who has a lifelong interest in Japan, has lived there, and speaks Japanese. Riverhead will publish Hearn's next book, Heaven's Net Is Wide: The First Tale of the Otori, the prequel to the Otori series, in 2007. View titles by Lian Hearn