Tales of the Otori (abridged)

In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the murderous warlord, Iida 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 among the Hidden, a reclusive...

Grass for His Pillow is the second novel in Lian Hearn's astonishingly beautiful series inspired by feudal Japan, Tales of the Otori. In the ancient Oriental lands of the Otori, amidst a time of violent war, famine and treacherous alliances, the fate of the young lovers Otori Takeo and Shirakawa...

Otori Takeo and the beautiful Kaede are now married. But the inescapable forces of destiny that have bound their lives from birth make their happiness an impossible dream. Takeo, still only 17, must raise an army to reclaim his Otori lands, and fulfil the prophecy of the blind sage: "Peace comes at the price of bloodshed. Four battles to win and one to lose". And he can never be free from the invisible assassins of the secret Tribe who have vowed to kill him.