Lian Hearn | Grass for His Pillow
Lian Hearn | Grass for His Pillow
The second book in the Tales of the Otori trilogy continues the epic story of Otori Takeo and Shirakawa Kaede, the young lovers whose fate is played out in an ancient Oriental world, where ritualized codes of high honour counter the cruelty of savage blood-feuds.
Takeo has pledged his life to the Tribe, a secret clan of spies and assassins who claim his legendary supernatural skills for their own ruthless purposes, in doing so he must deny his birthright as an Otori lord - and his love for Kaede.
If he does not serve them, the Tribe will kill him. Kaede, separated from Takeo, must use her intelligence, beauty, and cunning to assert her place in a world of all-powerful men - who must never know that she is carrying Takeo's child.
In growing from boy to man, Takeo must make a choice - and the dangerous path he undertakes is a journey of high adventure, treachery, and passion that establishes this extraordinary trilogy as one of the most brilliant and enduring works of modern fiction.