Complex sentence: The novel begins in the summer of 1799 at the Dutch East India Company trading post Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki and tells the story of a Dutch trader's love for a Japanese midwife who is, however, spirited away into a sinister mountain temple cult.
Split into simpler sentences: The novel begins in the summer of 1799 at the Dutch East India Company trading post Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki. It tells the story of a Dutch trader's love for a Japanese midwife who is, however, spirited away into a sinister mountain temple cult.