The Old Capital — Yasunari Kawabata

A young woman in historic Kyoto grapples with secrets from her past in this lyrical work of Japanese literature from a Nobel Prizeâ€"winning author.

Set in the traditional Japanese city of Kyoto, The Old Capital tells the story of Chieko, the adopted daughter of a kimono designer, Takichiro, and his wife, Shige. As Chieko discovers the true facets of her past, she becomes bewildered and troubled by longing, the start of a poignant journey that captures the beauty of old Japan.
 
With the ethereal tone and aesthetic styling characteristic of Kawabata's prose, The Old Capital is one of the three novels cited specifically by the Nobel Committee when they awarded Yasunari Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.