Masahiko Shimada is an extravagant inventor and virtuoso stylist, one of the leaders of the “new wave” of Japanese literature, who loves and knows how to boldly break literary taboos. He graduated from the Russian department of the University of Tokyo, now he is a professor at the largest Hosei University, chairman of the Japanese Union of Literary Men. The author of almost fifty novels, stories, essays, plays, winner of the prestigious Noma and Izumi Kyoka awards, he increasingly travels around the world in search of new sensations, acts in films and stages plays. “Beautiful Souls” is the second part of a trilogy about forbidden love, in which also included the novels “Master of the Comet” and “Love on Iturup”. The hero of the novel, Kaoru, is the great-grandson of the notorious geisha Cio-Cio-san. In love with the beautiful Fujiko, he unexpectedly learns that he has a powerful rival, the Crown Prince of Japan. Despite threats, Kaoru fights for his secret love. But who will Fujiko choose? Her decision could change not only the fate of Kaoru, but also the political course of modern Japan.