Edmund de Waal leads Costa book awards finalists

A book that uses 264 delicate Japanese carvings to tell the extraordinary story of a family living through tumultous events in Paris and Vienna was tonight named winner of one of the UK's most prestigious book awards. Immediately installed as the bookmakers' favourite to win the overall prize later this month, Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes was the winner of the Costa biography prize.

The Costas aim to reward enjoyable reads, giving prizes in five categories. The other winners announced this evening are Maggie O'Farrell who won the novel award for The Hand That First Held Mine; Jo Shapcott took the poetry prize for Of Mutability; Kishwar Desai won the first novel prize for Witness the Night; and Jason Wallace's Out of Shadows was declared best children's book.
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The book begins in Japan with De Waal inheriting a wonderful collection of small Japanese carvings – netsuke – from his uncle Iggie. They have been in the family for more than a century, prompting de Waal to embark on a mission to discover his forebears' history and tell it through the objects.

　イギリスの権威ある書籍大賞に日本の根付が登場するの本が選ばれた。パリとヴィエンナのお祭りの中の家族の生活の風変わりな物語に絡めているそう。ジャポニズムは凄いね。