Cloud of Sparrows

The year is 1861. After two centuries of splendid isolation, Japan has been forced to open its doors to the West. Life in this majestic realm of samurai and geishas is about to change forever.

As foreign ships threaten to destroy the Shogun’s castle in Edo, a small band of American missionaries arrives to spread the word of their God. Among them is Emily Watson, a young woman seeking redemption from a tormented past, and Matthew Stark, a cold-eyed killer with more than one death on his mind.

Little do they know that their destinies have already been foreseen. A young Japanese nobleman has dreamt that his life will be saved by an outsider – and Lord Genji is said to have inherited the gift of prophecy. When an assassination attempt against him is foiled, the stage is set for the clash of two mighty cultures and an epic tale of love and war.

Genji is forced to enlist the help of the two outsiders to escape to his ancestral stronghold, the Cloud of Sparrows castle, and prepare for a final battle against his enemies. Together with legendary swordsman Lord Shigeru and Edo’s most beautiful and celebrated geisha, the enigmatic Lady Heiko, the unlikely band embarks on a treacherous journey through a landscape bristling with danger.

Along the way East and west, past and future, spirit and flesh will collide in ways no one – least of all Genji – could ever have imagined.