The Bells of Nagasaki

Takashi Nagai, William Johnston, Richard Lloyd Parry

$39.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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Japanese

Vintage
11 November 2025

Autobiography: religious & spiritual; Memoirs; True stories of heroism, endurance & survival; History; Military history; Second World War

A harrowing, heart-rending first-hand account of one of the most infamous events in history- the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

'A book that everyone should read' The Times

A harrowing, heart-rending first-hand account of the bombing of Nagasaki - and the acts of human kindness left in its wake.

On 9th August 1945, the Japanese city of Nagasaki is hit by an atomic bomb. Forty thousand people are killed instantly. Doctor Takashi Nagai is not one of them.

Pulling himself, broken and bloodied, from the wreckage that was once the city's university hospital, Takashi bundles together a tattered group of survivors. Doctors, nurses, students, each with their own losses, their own fears for the future- they work tirelessly at the impossible task of aiding the countless wounded and easing the deaths of those they cannot save. They remain determined to heal their fallen city, to find solace and hope among the rubble, even as a strange and growing sickness begins to claim them.

Eyewitness to one of the most fatal events in human history, this is Takashi's record, written from his sickbed - a chilling historical document, and undeniable evidence of the capacity for human kindness.

Published now in the UK to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM RICHARD LLOYD PARRY

By: Takashi Nagai
Introduction by: Richard Lloyd Parry
Translated by: William Johnston
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 206mm, Width: 136mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 262g
ISBN: 9781529952605
ISBN 10: 1529952603
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 11 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Takashi Nagai was a Japanese Catholic physician specializing in radiology, an author, and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. His subsequent life of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title 'The saint of Nagasaki'. He died in 1951 from leukaemia.

Reviews for The Bells of Nagasaki

A book that everyone should read * The Times * A vivid first-hand account of the nuclear destruction of Nagasaki.... The testament of one of the most remarkable men in post-war Japan * Bloomsbury Review * The Bells of Nagasaki evoked an extraordinarily deep response in the hearts of the Japanese people... [they] rediscovered in this book something that had long lain buried under war - love! -- Shusaku Endo, author of Silence A crushing reminder of the obscenity of nuclear war… Few could read The Bells of Nagasaki today and not tremble at the thought of another nuclear conflict * Daily Telegraph *