Jacob de Zoet

Jacob de Zoet is the main character and principal protagonist of David Mitchell's novel, "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet". Jacob is a young, handsome man with high ideals, tremendous and sincere Christian faith, and aspires to make something of himself to marry his beloved, Anna. Jacob becomes a clerk for the Dutch East India Company, and travels to an outpost called Dejima on the coast of Japan. He promises Anna he will return to marry her in five years.

In Dejima, Jacob's Christian faith is put to the test against the dregs and scoundrels he must work with, all in a corrupt environment, and in between the forces of East and West. Jacob also meets and falls in love with Orito Aibagawa, but he cannot get close to her because she is of high social status on the Japanese mainland. Jacob ultimately is demoted...