** CELEBRATING 21 YEARS OF OTORI **

ACROSS THE NIGHTINGALE FLOOR is Book 1 in the five-part Tales of the Otori series.

'The best story of magic, love, sex, revenge and suspense to have come this way since Philip Pullman.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

In his 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 village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama - and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his. His journey is one of revenge and treachery, beauty and magic, and the passion of first love.

COMING SOON - the spellbinding new Tale of Shikanoko, set 300 years before Otori: EMPEROR OF THE EIGHT ISLANDS (Books 1 and 2) and LORD OF THE DARKWOOD (Books 3 and 4).