The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet

by David Mitchell

It is a gift from your ancestors and a loan from your descendants.

Said about a bible but true of so many things

Some years ago, a wise American, Benjamin Franklin, marveled at an air balloon in flight over London. His companion dismissed the balloon as a bauble, a frivolity, and demanded of Franklin, ‘Yes, but what use is it?’ Franklin replied, ‘What use is a newborn child?’ ”

One reason is that it delivers a stereo narrative: from one speaker comes the treble of the novel’s own plot while the other plays the bass of history’s plot.

Thoughts on historical fiction