The Samurai of the Red Carnation

Author: Theriault, Denis

Historical fiction

Published on 4 July 2024 by Pushkin Press in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 320 pages
241 x 164 x 34 | 518g

Matsuo is born to be a samurai, but as he is being trained in the art of war he realises he was meant for a different art altogether. Turning his back on his future as a warrior of the sword, he decides instead to do battle with words, as a poet. Thus begins a story of romance and adventure, love and betrayal, that takes Matsuo across medieval Japan, through bloody battlefields and burning cities, culminating in his ultimate test at the uta awase - where Japan's greatest poets engage in fierce verbal combat for the honour of victory.