She is viewed by many as the most beautiful maiden in the Three Counties that make up their realm. Shigeru becomes betrothed to Shirakawa Kaede as part of the arrangement for Takeo’s adoption. When they reach Shigeru’s home in Hagi, Takeo is taken in by an elderly maid named Chiyo, and Shigeru’s former mentor Ichiro. Takeo overhears Lady Maruyama and Shigeru express their love for each other that night. She is a powerful leader from the Seishuu sect, and has been fighting the Tohan’s attacks on the Hidden. On their way to Shigeru’s home, they meet Maruyama Naomi at an inn. After being rescued by Lord Shigeru,Takeo becomes sick on the road and briefly loses his voice, but this has the effect of heightening his hearing. Tomasu becomes Shigeru’s ward, and later his adopted son, and is renamed Takeo to hide his Hidden heritage. Iida and his men pursue Tomasu, but the boy is rescued by Lord Shigeru, of the Otori sect. While trying to escape, he steals the horse of Iida Sadamu, the ruthless leader of the military clan the Tohan. Across the Nightingale Floor begins as sixteen-year-old Tomasu, who was brn into a persecuted religious sect called The Hidden, returns from walking in the mountains to find that his family has been slaughtered. Across the Nightingale Floor won the 2004 Deutscher Jugendliterturpreis Award for outstanding children’s literature in Germany. Another novel, taking place sixteen years later, The Harsh Cry of the Heron, was released in 2006, and a prequel, titled Heaven’s Net is Wide, followed in 2007.

It was followed by two more installments in the trilogy, Grass for His Pillow (2003) and Brilliance of the Moon (2004). Exploring themes of legacy, the pressures of family, and whether vengeance can truly bring peace, Across the Nightingale Floor received overwhelmingly positive reviews and became an international bestseller. Focusing on a young warrior named Takeo, as he seeks to avenge his adoptive father’s murder and escape the legacy of his biological father, the narrative expands to encompass a massive power struggle involving dozens of rival clans. It is the first installment of the Tales of the Otori series, which is set in a fictional world based on feudal Japan. Across the Nightingale Floor is a 2002 historical fantasy novel by English author, Gillian Rubinstein, writing under the pen name Lian Hearn.

Across the nightingale floor