The Pure Landresurrects the dramatic life of Thomas Glover, the Scottish businessman who helped overthrow the shogun and whose tumultuous love affairs inspired the operaMadame Butterflyand the musicalMiss Saigon. Alan Spence has transformed this true story into an unforgettable hundred-year saga that culminates in the annihilation of Nagasaki. Thomas Glover is a gutsy eighteen-year-old in Aberdeen in 1858 who grasps the chance of escape to foreign lands and takes a posting as a trader in Japan. Within ten years he amasses a great fortune, helps to modernize Japan, and, on the other side of the law, brings about the overthrow of the shogun. Yet beneath Glover’s astonishing success lies a man cut to the heart. His love affair with a courtesan—a woman who, unknown to him, would bear him the son for whom he had always longed—would form a tragedy so heartrending that the story became immortal. Called “a page-turner of the first order . . . an engaging and vivid historical novel, but also a meditative work of art” byThe Timesof London,The Pure Landis a modern epic, a rattling good adventure, a devastating love story, and a journey of the spirit.
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From Publishers Weekly
Scottish writer Spence (Stone Garden) fictionalizes the life of Thomas Glover, a 19th-century Scots entrepreneur who built a mercantile empire in Japan, and whose life inspired Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon. In 1858, the young Glover, son of a coast guard officer, works as a clerk in Scotland. He lives with his family, but longs to see the world, and takes a job in Japan with Jardine, Mathieson & Co., a British trading house. Soon, Glover is also working as an independent trader in arms and opium, among other things. As he forms connections with a number of different Japanese clans, Glover falls in love with a courtesan, and the consequences last for generations. He also slowly gets wrapped up in the fate of Japan, as the country makes the transition away from a feudalism fraught with clan violence. Spence opens this lively and epic historical narrative in 1945, at the moment of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki. Thoughtful and vivid, the novel adds rich detail to a life known mostly in broad strokes. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"His imagination is given full rein but this never clouds his instinctive understanding of the contradictions of the human condition. It is a glorious finale to a very fine novel." Sunday Herald "...marks The Pure Land out, not merely as an engaging and vivid historical novel, but also a meditative work of art that is as finely honed as a samurai's sword." The Times "He is a gentle writer, but never sentimental. The beautiful moments have always been earned. He is a writer to cherish, one offering deep and fulfilling pleasures." Allan Massie"
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thomas Glover Brought to Real Life,
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This review is from: The Pure Land (Paperback)
This book is an interesting look at pre-modern Japan seen through the eyes of Thomas Glover. Glover was a real-life entrepreneurial Scottish businessman that moved to Nagasaki in the 1850s and has been partially credited with the modernization of Japan, the overthrow of the Shogun and the Meiji Restoration. Although this book is deemed historical fiction, Spence deserves credit for his research and attempt to remain historically accurate to the characters and the events of the time. There are parts of this book that drag on and a reader without an understanding of the Bakufu and Shogun system in Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration may be a bit lost, but otherwise the book is entertaining and the imagery is vivid. All in all, this book should be considered by all who profess to appreciate Japanese culture and history.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book,
By
This review is from: The Pure Land (Hardcover)
This book is everything one would want from a historical novel. When I started reading it, this was a story of a prominent 19th-century industrialist from Scotland, one of the first Westerners to leave a mark on Japanese economy and politics. By the time I reached the end, it was much more. I hope that this book will make you think about the subtleties of motivation for our actions and the contradictions that often accompany their consequences. More importantly, I hope it will make you think about the relationship between success and happiness. This book was surprising to the very end and certainly kept me thinking about these things.
For the history buffs: Spence seems to stay true to the actual events and employs artistic license very judiciously and only in minimal quantities. That said, I think the best aspect of this book is that it transcends time and history by examining not just the dry historical record, but the people and their actions.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pure Land,
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This review is from: The Pure Land (Paperback)
Fascinating and compelling. Hard to put down. My wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. Must read a biographry of Thomas Glover now.
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