Translated into English for the first time, Beautiful Star is a 1962 tale of family, love, nuclear war and UFOs, and was the novel Mishima considered to be his masterpiece. This atmospheric black comedy tells the story of the Osugi family, who come to the sudden realization that each of them hails from a different planet: Father from Mars, mother from Jupiter, son from Mercury and daughter from Venus. This extra-terrestrial knowledge brings them closer together, and convinces them that they have a mission: to find others of their kind, and save humanity from the imminent threat of the atomic bomb. Translated by Stephen Dodd.

Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), the pen name for Kimitake Hiraoka, is one of the most prominent and important Japanese authors of the 20th century. Born in 1925 in Tokyo, he graduated 22 years later from Tokyo Imperial University and wrote several short stories, novels and plays until his early untimely death in 1970. Mishima’s works are often noted to be characterised by exuberant vocabulary and decadent concepts both combining traditional Japanese and modern western elements. Author of well-known works such as The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Mishima remains one of Japan's most well-known literary figures.

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