THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the Japanese Empires single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, and costly courtesans comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiance back in Holland. But Jacobs original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured midwife to the citys powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken”the consequences of which will extend beyond Jacobs worst imaginings.