This review is for the fiction title, "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" by David Mitchell, the author's fifth book.

The plot is based around the island of Dejima, and the story is based around a Dutch employee of the East India Company, Jacob De Zoet. The story is set at the very end of the eighteenth century and through into the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The fascinating part about the island of Dejima is that although it is situated in Japan, it is a concession which was given to the Netherlands, so there are the mix of Japanese and Dutch cultures, with traders visiting from around the world.

De Zoet is on the island through pressure from his family, and he knows that his posting will last for at least five years. He hopes that he can develop his career enough to provide lasting wealth for his wife in the Netherlands, for whom he looks forward to returning.

When De Zoet gets to the island though, he is fascinated by the people and sites. He becomes especially interested in a Japanese mid-wife and daughter of a samurai, who he tries to understand and get to know.

Which is really the basis of this book, which slowly lets you get to know the places and people of the island, its history and how it develops. The story is beautifully crafted, well written and superbly presented, with an atmosphere which is really credible and interesting.

I won't give the plot away too much, which would be easy to do, but the book contains so much more than the story of just one man. Indeed, it's probably best that you try to avoid finding out much about the plot in advance, as the book unfolds much better in my view if you are unaware of how the story progresses.

Without giving too much away though, there are large numbers of characters who appear in the book, and I have to confess that I really struggled to keep up on some occasions with what was going on.

If you're after a simple read, then this likely isn't the book for you. With the large number of characters is also a large number of plots which link around into each other, in what is quite a complex way. It would be unfair to say that this means the book is badly written or over-complex, but it does require a lot of thought and concentration, or at least, it did for me.

The book retails for 18.99 pounds, but is currently available new on Amazon for 9.41 pounds including postage. As at the time of writing the book has just been published, there are no cheaper second hand copies available, but you might want to look on eBay or Amazon to see if you can pick a cheaper copy up.

The book's ISBN is 9780340921562, is 480 pages long and was published by Sceptre in May 2010. The book has its own web-site as well, although it specifically relates to the US release of the book, which is published in mid 2010.

In summary, this is a superb book, a fascinating look at early nineteenth century history, a good read and brilliantly written in terms of characters and plots. However, it is a complex book, so sit down and be prepared to concentrate as you read, but if you are interested in historical fiction, it's worth the effort!