The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet

"The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the 'high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island' that is the Japanese Empire's single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay; the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company; and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there." -- from publisher.