Imagine an empire that has shut out the world for a century and a half. No one can leave, foreigners are excluded, their religions banned and their ideas deeply mistrusted. Yet a narrow window onto this nation-fortress still exists: an artificial walled island connected to a mainland port, and manned by a handful of European traders. And locked as the land-gate may be, it cannot prevent the meeting of minds -- or hearts. The nation was Japan, the port was Nagasaki and the island was Dejima, to where David Mitchell's panoramic novel transports us in the year 1799. For one Dutch clerk, Jacob de Zoet, a dark adventure of duplicity, love, guilt, faith and murder is about to begin -- and all the while, unbeknownst to him and his feuding compatriots, the axis of global power is turning...

一九八二年一月。居住在英国偏远小村绿野黑天鹅的十三岁的杰森·泰勒——患有间歇性结巴的少年，名不副实的诗人——预想这又将会是一个平淡如水、无聊透顶的年头。然而，等待他的，将是村中的恶少、越来越明显的结巴症状、马尔维纳斯群岛战争、大量涌入的吉卜赛人对村子的威胁，以及性格各异的女孩儿…… 《绿野黑天鹅》描绘了即将从童年期进入青少年期的泰勒荒诞、爆笑、痛苦、活跃的十三个月，生活的伟大和丰富尽在其中。