Winner of the Independent Booksellers' Book Award 2011.

Winner of the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2011.

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011.

Winner of the Costa Biography Award 2010.

Costa Book Awards Judges' comment: "A book that is both highly original and tremendously moving. De Waal's subject matter is fascinating in itself, but what makes the book work so well is the delicacy with which he approaches his task and the emotion he invests within it."

Winner of the Galaxy New Writer of the Year 2010.

This is the definitive illustrated edition of the international bestseller which tells the history of a family through 264 objects, set against a turbulent century, from an acclaimed writer and potter. With gorgeous new photography of the celebrated netsuke collection, and sumptuous full-colour images hand-picked by Edmund de Waal from his family archive of 264 Japanese wood and ivory carvings, none of them bigger than a matchbox.

Synopsis

Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in his great-uncle Iggie's Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the 'netsuke', they unlocked a story far larger and more dramatic than he could ever have imagined. From a burgeoning empire in Odessa to fin de siecle Paris, from occupied Vienna to post-war Tokyo, Edmund de Waal traces the netsuke's journey through generations of his remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.

Reviews

A family memoir written with a grace and modesty that almost belie the sweep of its contents: Proust, Rilke, Japanese art, the rue de Monceau, Vienna during the Second World War. The most enchanting history lesson imaginable. -- The New Yorker

An extraordinary history...A wondrous book, as lustrous and exquisitely crafted as the netsuke at its heart. -- The Christian Science Monitor

A lovely, gripping book. -- The Wall Street Journal

Enthralling . . . [de Waal's] essayistic exploration of his family's past pointedly avoids any sentimentality . . . The Hare with Amber Eyes belongs on the same shelf with Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory.

--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World This is a book Sebald would have loved. -- The Irish Times

At one level [Edmund de Waal] writes in vivid detail of how the fortunes were used to establish the Ephrussis
lavish lives and high positions in Paris and Vienna society. And, as Jews, of their vulnerability: the P

About the Author

Edmund de Waal's porcelain is shown in many museum collections round the world and he has recently made installations for the V&A and Tate Britain. He was apprenticed as a potter, studied in Japan and read English at Cambridge. He is Professor of Ceramics at the University of Westminster and lives in London with his family.   Author photo © Hannah James More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation