The Seventh Samurai

8vo. Pp. [iv], 656. Pictorial wraps.

Author's debut novel, published as The Last Samurai, after naming rights by the makers of Akira Kurosawa's film – repeatedly referenced in the book – were denied her. Shortlisted for the 2002 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Los Angeles Times' 2001 Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Longlisted for the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction. Ranked as the best book of 2000 by Granta magazine. Named as the Novel of the Century by Vulture magazine in 2018, on its re-issue by New Directions in 2016, after going out-of-print for a decade.

A boy prodigy, home-schooled by his single mother in ancient languages and the samurai virtues, sets out in search of a father figure in the heroic mould. A scathing indictment of the Western system of education and a meditation on heroism and suicide. "An original, daring novel, The Last Samurai could well become a classic." –TLS