Description

Book Synopsis

In 1861 French silkworm merchant Hervé Joncour travels to Japan, where he encounters the mysterious Hara Kei. He develops a painful longing for Kei's beautiful concubine - but they cannot touch; they don't even speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his own country. But the moment he does, Joncour is enslaved.

Subtle, tender and surprising, Silk is an evocative tale of erotic possession.



Trade Review
Mesmerising and starkly beautiful * * Observer * *
A heart-breaking love story told in the form of a classic fable . . . A stylistic tour de force, a literary gem of bewitching power * * Sunday Times * *
Deeply moving . . . A delicately crafted love story and an anatomy of desire * * Guardian * *
An intensely powerful and perceptive drama of the deepest human desires . . . One of the most astonishing and moving novels I have ever read * * Daily Telegraph * *
Haunting and delicately erotic * * Mail on Sunday * *

Silk

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    £8.54

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    RRP £8.99 – you save £0.45 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Mon 22 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Alessandro Baricco, Ann Goldstein

    15 in stock

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      View other formats and editions of Silk by Alessandro Baricco

      Publisher: Canongate Books
      Publication Date: 01/08/2019
      ISBN13: 9781786896421, 978-1786896421
      ISBN10: 1786896427
      Also in:
      Contemporary Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      In 1861 French silkworm merchant Hervé Joncour travels to Japan, where he encounters the mysterious Hara Kei. He develops a painful longing for Kei's beautiful concubine - but they cannot touch; they don't even speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his own country. But the moment he does, Joncour is enslaved.

      Subtle, tender and surprising, Silk is an evocative tale of erotic possession.



      Trade Review
      Mesmerising and starkly beautiful * * Observer * *
      A heart-breaking love story told in the form of a classic fable . . . A stylistic tour de force, a literary gem of bewitching power * * Sunday Times * *
      Deeply moving . . . A delicately crafted love story and an anatomy of desire * * Guardian * *
      An intensely powerful and perceptive drama of the deepest human desires . . . One of the most astonishing and moving novels I have ever read * * Daily Telegraph * *
      Haunting and delicately erotic * * Mail on Sunday * *

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