Silk
The year is 1861. Hervé Joncour is a French merchant of silkworms, who combs the known world for their gemlike eggs. Then circumstances compel him to travel farther, beyond the edge of the known, to a country legendary for the quality of its silk and its hostility to foreigners: Japan.There Joncour meets a woman. They do not touch; they do not even speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his own country. But in the moment he does, Joncour is possessed.
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Community Reviews
A friend of mine loved this book so much he ordered a copy for me from England. This is a sparely written, poetically written novella about a young Frenchman who courageously ventured to Japan (a months-long journey) during the mid-1800s to secure eggs from silkworms and to sell to local silk dealers. On one trip, the man is utterly captivated by a woman he sees, though never speaks to. The rest of the novella revolves around his infatuation with her, and subsequent trips to Japan to secure more silkworm eggs and to hope for a connection with the mysterious woman.
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