The Hare with Amber Eyes A Hidden Inheritance

By Edmund De Waal

At the heart of this family memoir is a one-of-a-kind inherited collection of ornamental Japanese carvings known as netsuke and the story behind them. De Waal's family was the Ephrussis, wealthy Jewish grain traders who branched out from Russia across the capitals of Europe before seeing their empire destroyed by the Nazis.

Beginning with his art connoisseur ancestor Charles, who acquired the netsuke during the European rage for Japonisme, de Waal traces the collection from Japan to Europe--where they were saved from the brutal bureaucracy of the Nazi Anschluss in the pockets of a family servant--and back to Japan and Europe again.