‘… an absorbing historical tale’
‘… an already accomplished, captivating new voice’
‘… a heady dive into late 19th Century Japan by an author of great talent’
Following its successful, full-house launch in late February, T. Y. Garner’s debut novel The Hotel Hokusai has not only garnered a considerable group of readers but also captured the attention of reviewers such as Alastair Mabbott from The Herald.
In last week’s Herald Magazine, Mabbott contributed a thorough and insightful review on The Hotel Hokusai, praising it ‘an absorbing historical tale’ and the author ‘an already accomplished, captivating new voice’, while calling for more deserved attention to this book which is ‘a heady dive into late 19th Century Japan by an author of great talent’.
In this captivating story of crime and adventure which takes place in the fin-de-siecle Yokohama, Garner has extensively integrated his insight into migration and acclimatisation obtained from and enriched by his work as a political journalist and years of living abroad in multiple countries, including Japan. Just as Mabbott observes, the novel is a ‘vehicle’ for exploring both protagonists as ‘outsiders in Japan but with very different relationships to the country’.
About the Book
It is 1893: Yokohama is a melting pot of international influence and opportunity as well as Japan’s portal to the world. Its air hangs thick with an intoxicating miasma of loneliness and desire, but fails to mask the emerging stench of death.
When a young woman is found drowned in Yokohama Harbour under suspicious circumstances, downtrodden Korean eel salesboy Han compels the eccentric Glaswegian artist Archie Nith to seek the truth, though it requires more of them than just naïve integrity to paint a picture of what actually happened.
Written from the perspectives of both Han and Nith, The Hotel Hokusai follows their twisting journey as it snakes all the way from Yokohama’s harbour to its red-light district, stopping along the way to meet two of the famous Glasgow Boys and pay respects to the Dragon King. Can they grasp reality when the truth is as slippery as a basket of eels?
Wondering where an enigmatic death would take these two seemingly unrelated ‘outsiders’ on the foreign land of Japan? What are you waiting for? Grab your copy of The Hotel Hokusai now here!
Want to read the review first? You can check out the complete article online here. You can also find Garner’s author page and read more of the review here.