53 Japanning

Great books often have their genesis in accidental moments. David Mitchell got off at the wrong tram stop in Nagasaki and stumbled upon a cluster of warehouses from an earlier century. That site proved to be central to his new novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. When her moment struck, Katherine Govier was at the Freer Museum in Washington, DC, at a discussion of 19th-century Japanese woodcut master Hokusai. The results are spectacular and riveting historical novels that showcase the talents of these two hugely successful and beloved authors. This is a rare chance to see Mitchell and Govier up close and personal.