I read this for my bookgroup. It was a very well researched and interesting book. Following the history of his uncle's collection of Japanese netsuke, the author uncovers the history of his family, a wealthy European banking dynasty, taking us from Odessa & Paris in the 1800s, to Vienna, the UK and Japan.

Though not very keen on the Paris section of this story, I was particularly drawn in once the netsuke and their family had moved to Vienna. An amazing, dramatic story, very well told. One of my favourite reads for 2012. I couldn't put it down.

I offered this book in the Best of 2012 bookswap on bookobsessed.com Won by itpdx. Mailed to her today.

Received today in Portland OR. Very much looking forward to this.

The concept of this book got me through some rough, for me, passages early in de Waal's story. He traces the story of his family through a collection of Japanese netsuke, small carvings. My art history education is not quite up to the author's assumptions. For instance, the seccesionist school of artists was unknown to me.
De Waal's ancestors were wealthy Jews, the Ephrussi, who's fortune was founded in Odessa grain trading. The family spread to banking in Paris and Vienna. De Waal has deftly picked up details from his family history that give me a real feeling for what life was like for wealthy assimilated Jews in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Christian lady's maid, Anna, who stayed in the Ephrussi Vienna Palais through WWII will haunt me as it seems to have haunted de Waal. Well worth reading.

This book is being mailed to zosime as part of the reverse wishlist relay on bookobsessed.

What a great surprise, thank you! I received this a few days ago but was afraid to open it until my birthday. Thank you for the extra birthday treat!