The Makioka Sisters - Vintage Classics by Junichiro Tanizaki

One of the landmark Japanese novels, Tanizaki’s immense family saga is as reliable a record of 1940s Osaka as any history book. Winningly affectionate yet bitingly critical, the horror and excess of the Second World War and Japan’s subsequent reconstruction are brought to simmering life through the titular female quartet.

Tanizaki's masterpiece is the story of four sisters, and the declining fortunes of a traditional Japanese family. It is a loving and nostalgic recreation of the sumptuous, intricate upper-class life of Osaka immediately before World War Two.

With surgical precision, Tanizaki lays bare the sinews of pride, and brings a vanished era to vibrant life.