Yasushi Inoue

Three letters from three women unfold the story of a love affair and its tragic consequences. A lover, her daughter, and an abandoned wife: three women write letters revealing the tragic aftermath of a forbidden love affair. Saiko is beautiful, sophisticated — and disloyal to her cousin and closest friend. Midori, forsaken by her husband, takes a silent vengeance. And...

Tsugami, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper in war-scarred Osaka, agrees to sponsor a bullfight. For months this great gamble consumes him, making him as wary and combative as if he were in a ring himself. As he becomes ever more distant, his lover Sakiko is unsure whether she would like to see him succeed or be destroyed. As much a...

A master forger lives in obscurity and disappointment, oppressed by the shadow of the artist whose work he copies. A young man embarks on an investigation into his family's past, prompted by a newspaper clipping and a vague memory of a beautiful young woman. Another young narrator is consumed with curiosity about his grandfather's mistress—and why she cherishes an old...

The Izu Dancer, Yasunari Kawabata's first work to bring him recognition as a writer, is a novella about six Izu Peninsula travellers. As the six travellers journey together, intimacy develops and friendship overcomes class differences. Capturing the shy eroticism of adolescence, The Izu Dancer is a charming picture of the times. Yasushi Inoue's The Counterfeiter, although set in modern times,...