The title is a netsuke, a small, very small, Japanese wood or ivory carving, no larger than a matchbox. The book tells the story of the Ephrussis family, a rich, very rich, banking family from Odessa.
The story of the family is told through the purchase of the netsuke collection, and how it is passed down from one generation to the next. The family makes Paris its home, then migrates to Vienna. The author is Edmund de Waal, and the fifth generation to own the collection.
By the end of World War II, there is almost nothing left of the Ephrussis fortune. The family, imprisoned or scattered, the mansion appropriated by Hitler. The netsuke are smuggled away by a loyal maid and years later returned to the family.
I really enjoyed this book although it was a slow read.