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The Ghosts of Nagasaki: A Novel
Novel Explores Pain, Memory, and Spirituality in Nagasaki, Japan
The numerous workdays have taken a toll on Tokyo investment banker, Pierce Williams. Each day he wakes up, and each day the weight where his heart should be grows heavier. One morning, without knowing why, he sits down at his desk and begins typing something. Soon he realizes that without meaning to he has begun typing the story of his first days in Nagasaki four years ago. As he types, he begins to realize that the words on his screen are more than he could have imagined. Instead of simply remembering the past he is reliving it in ways that fundamentally alter his present.
In his manic writing are the ghosts of his past, a chilling vision of his future, and the possible key to his salvation. Somehow he must solve the mystery of four years ago. A mystery that involves a young Japanese girl, the ghost of a native writer, and an oppressive bureaucrat/samurai determined to crush his spirit.
Daniel Clausen’s fiction has been published in Slipstream Magazine, Zygote in my Coffee, Leading Edge Magazine, and Spindrift, among other venues.
Mr. Clausen’s novel is loosely based on his experiences in Nagasaki, Japan. For the author, Nagasaki is not just anyplace—it’s a rich landscape of striking contrasts. As the second city hit by the nuclear bomb during World War II, the city has a history of pain and hardship. Out of this history, however, Nagasaki has developed as a bastion of peace activism. As the first place in Japan to open to outsiders, Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century, it is one of the few places in Japan where Christianity was able to take root. And yet, the persecution of Christians during the Edo period has left scars that have yet to fade.
It’s in this landscape that we find the novel’s protagonist, Pierce Williams. He arrives in Nagasaki as an English teacher haunted by the death of his foster mother. It’s only through the help of Nagasaki’s haunted landscape that he is able to discover the roots of his trauma and forge a path toward his salvation.
The Ghosts of Nagasaki: A Novel 