The master of Japanese prose embarks us on a gripping coming-of-age journey through an unforgettable love story.

‘On a warm spring day, a galloping horse was only too clearly a sweating animal of flesh and blood. But a horse racing through a snowstorm became one with the very elements; wrapped in the whirling blasts of the north wind, the beast embodied the icy breath of winter.’ This is one of the most beautiful and poetic novels I have ever read and its sad that it is so overlooked. One of my fellow booksellers introduced me to Japanese literature and I will be forever grateful for having my eyes opened to such wonderful stories. Mishima’s prose is lyrical and mesmerizing, it is a piece of art. Set in 1912 at a turning point in Japanese history Spring Snow gives us a rare glimpse into a closed world. The old samurai families are waning and a new nobility centred around the court of the emperor is in the ascendant , the struggle between these two ways of life and belief systems is one of the central themes of the novel. Kiyoaki is trapped between these two worlds, a member of the old obility he is brought up in the household of an elegant family close to court of the emperor and so exists somewhere between. The love story which unfolds between Kiyoaki and Satoko , daughter of his foster family, is timeless and transcendent but Mishima uses his story to discuss philosophical ideas such as karma and reincarnation. This is truly a masterpiece of twentieth century fiction.