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Description edit
This startling, sensual, hypnotically compelling novel tells a story of adventure, sexual enthrallment, and a love so powerful that it unhinges a man's life. In 1861 French silkworm merchant Hervé Joncour is compelled to travel to Japan, where, in the court of an enigmatic nobleman, he meets a... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Herve Joncour: It brings some facts about the story plot
- Hara Kei: The Japanese dealer of the Silkworm eggs
- Helene: The wife of Herve Joncour
- Baldabiou: The visionary, foster Herve to travel abroad
- Madame Blanche: Add a description of this character.
- Jean Berbeck
Quotes edit
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“It was 1861. Flaubert was writing Salammbo, electric light was still a hypothesis and Abraham Lincoln, on the other side of the ocean, was fighting a war whose end he would not see.”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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“It's a strange grief.” Softly. “To die of nostalgia for something you will never live.”
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He was, besides, one of those men who like to witness their own life, considering any ambition to live it inappropriate.
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The birds flew slowly, rising and falling in the sky, as if they wanted to erase it, very carefully, with their wings.
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The girl continued to stare at him, with a violence that wrenched from every word the obligation to be memorable.
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He recalled having read in a book that it was the custom for Oriental men to honor the faithfulness of their lovers by giving them not jewels but the most beautiful, elegant birds.
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“They'll come back. It's always difficult to resist the temptation to come back, isn't that true?”
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Life was seething in an undertone; it moved with a cunning languor, like a hunted animal in its den. The world seemed centuries away.
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Science appeared incapable of understanding the causes of the epidemic. And the whole world, as far as the farthest regions, seemed a prisoner of that inexplicable fate.
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Around him was the most absolute silence, and emptiness. As if by a special rule, wherever that man went, he went in an unconditional and perfect solitude.
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First Sentence edit
Although his father had imagined for him a brilliant future in the army, Herve Joncour ended up earning his living in an unusual profession, that, with singular irony, had a feature so sweet as to betray a vaguely feminine intonation.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 101 of 1272 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Untouchable, and followed by Cocaine Nights.
First Edition edit
Original Language: Italian
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Italy
Publication Date: 1996
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Italy
Publication Date: 1996
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 100
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 853.914
Subjects edit
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Movie Connections edit
- Silk (IMDb): 2007
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