One Morning Like a Bird

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What to expect

'ANDREW MILLER'S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT' Hilary Mantel

'ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND' Sunday Times

'Cinematic'
Times Literary Supplement

'A real achievement'
Guardian

'Revelatory'
Sunday Times

The mesmerising tale of a young man forced to make life-changing decisions, from the critically acclaimed author Pure

Tokyo, 1940. While Japan's war against China escalates, young Yuji Takano clings to his cocooned life: his beloved evenings of French conversation at Monsieur Feneon's, visits to the bathhouse with friends, his books, his poetry.

But conscription looms and the mood turns against foreigners, just when Yuji gets entangled with Feneon's daughter. As the nation heads towards conflict with the Allies, Yuji must decide where his duty - and his heart - lies.


PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER

'Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity'
Sarah Hall

'A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts'
Independent on Sunday

'A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative'
The Times

'A wonderful storyteller'
Spectator

Critics Review

Miller’s writing is cinematic . . . at all times the author is in command

Times Literary Supplement

Revelatory

Sunday Times

A quite beautifully written coming-of-age novel . . . a precisely, lovingly rendered evocation of imperial Japan

Daily Mail

Miller’s trademark is silken prose which gleams with acutely rendered detail

Independent

Miller’s writing is a joy . . . a memorable novel, one that stays true to the randomness of life, to unplanned acts and fateful outcomes . . . Deeply moving, written with loving attention to language, it felt like Pasternak back from the dead

Scotsman

A real achievement

Guardian

Not only does he combine delicious literary conceits with thought-provoking explorations into the human condition, he has the rare gift of tossing out perfect sentences that make you stop in your tracks

Metro

There are moments of beauty, truth and irony

Daily Telegraph

Andrew Miller is one of Britain’s most graceful historical prose stylists . . . He deftly captures the nuances of his subject’s emotional maturation against the brittle bellicosity of mid-war Tokyo

Independent on Sunday

Miller’s masterful coming-of-age story ranges from a subtle and spare poetry to an almost Proustian evocation of experiential time

The Age

Miller’s writing reaches across historical distance . . . Like one of the silk umbrellas that Miller’s characters carry, the novel unfurls slowly to reveal the intricate, hand-painted patterns hidden at its centre

Globe and Mail

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