Cloud of Sparrows By Takashi Matsuoka

The year is 1861. After two centuries of isolation, Japan has been forced to open its doors to the West. And as foreign ships threaten to rain destruction on the Shogun's castle in Edo, a small band of American missionaries arrives to spread the word of their God. They have yet to realise that their destiny in Japan has already been foreseen. For a young nobleman has dreamt that his life will be saved by an outsider in the New Year… and it is said that Lord Genji has the gift of prophecy.

As this unlikely band embarks on a journey through a landscape bristling with danger, East and West, flesh and spirit, past and future collide in a way no one- least of all Genji- could have imagined. All in the shadow of a castle known as Cloud of Sparrows...