Norwegian Wood

With Norwegian Wood Murakami, best known as the author of off-kilter classics such as the ‘Wind Up Bird Chronicle,’ ‘A Wild Sheep Chase’ and ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland,’ finally achieved widespread acclaim in his native Japan. The novel sold upwards of 4 million copies and forced the author to retreat to Europe, fearful of the expectations accompanying his newfound cult status. The novel is atypical for Murakami: seemingly autobiographical, in the tradition of many Japanese “I” novels, Norwegian Wood is a simple coming of age tale set, primarily, in 1969/70, the time of Murakami’s own university years.

Across the Nightingale Floor

In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the murderous warlord, lida Sadamu, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. Brought up in a remote mountain village, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama — and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his. His journey is one of revenge and treachery, honour and the passion of first love.

Brilliance of the Moon

The third installment of the worldwide phenomenon and number-one international bestseller Tales of the Otori. Set in an imagined medieval Japan, Book Three is a thrilling — and surprising — follow-up to the previous adventures of Takeo and Kaede. Taking us into the complexities of the loyalties that bind the novel’s characters at birth — the fates from which they cannot escape — Brilliance of the Moon goes beyond its transcendent storytelling in demonstrating how we are shaped by forces outside our control and yet must forge our own destinies all the same.

Guerrilla Warfare

Guerrilla Warfare is Che Guevara’s own story of the Cuban revolution. It was written in 1960, just after the 1956-59 revolution and, originally intended as a manual for the other guerrilla movements of Latin America, grew into Che’s classic account of the motivations and justifications of revolution. This is far from being an instruction guide to founding a guerrilla movement, itis a work that sets out the faith necessary for political action, an evocation of Che’s own idealism.

Grass for His Pillow

Set in a mythical, feudal Japanese land, a world both beautiful and cruel, this intense love story of two young people takes place against a background of warring clans, famine and treacherous alliances.