A Cup of Light - Softcover
From the author of THE LAST CHINESE CHEF and LOST IN TRANSLATION comes a gripping story of deception and love, set against the world of Chinese porcelain smuggling. In this world, beauty always has a price and nothing can be judged too finely. Lia Frank, an appraiser of fine Chinese porcelain, is sent from New York to Beijing to catalogue and appraise a rare collection of twenty pieces. At the private house she has been given to work in, however, she finds eight hundred pieces, many originating from the imperial porcelain collection. As Lia examines her treasure, she finds herself drawn into the underworld of Chinese art. From the slightly shady Hollywood Road antique district in Hong Kong, to the professional underworld smugglers who move art illegally out of the mainland; from the rich Western art lovers who don't ask questions, to the Chinese museum officials who want to bring back every piece taken out by Western marauders, each player in the game carries his own secret. It's Lia's job to find the truth. As she sorts out the puzzle and uncovers the true history of the collection, she also yearns to have a relationship with more than an inanimate work of art. As the story unfolds, she gets her chance.
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From the Inside Flap:
Hailed as ?luminous? by The New York Times Book Review, Nicole Mones' bestselling debut novel, Lost in Translation, dazzled critics with a sensuous tale of adventure and awakening set in modern China.
A Cup of Light returns to that rich, exotic landscape in an enthralling saga of precious works of art?and the human lives illuminated by them. Written with exquisite grace, A Cup of Light is an intoxicating blend of romance and intrigue, complete with a heroine whose voice is irresistible to the last page.
As an appraiser of fine Chinese porcelain, Lia Frank holds fragile beauty in her hands, examines priceless treasure with a magnifying lens. But when Lia looks in the mirror, she sees the flaws in herself, a woman wary of love, cut off from the world around her. Still, when she is sent to Beijing to authenticate a collection of rare pieces, Lia will find herself changing in surprising ways. . .coming alive in the shadow of an astounding mystery. . .drawn into an unfolding saga of artists and thieves, intrigue and longing.
Lia was told the collection was impressive?twenty spectacular pots. Instead, in a vast room in a gated home in Beijing, Lia finds herself surrounded by the impossible: forty crates and eight hundred works of astounding beauty, with pieces reaching back centuries and perhaps even into the royal residence of the Forbidden City. Now Lia must evaluate each fragile pot, pairing each brushstroke and each nearly invisible imperfection with the database in her mind. Her job is to answer questions that will reverberate through dozens of lives: Where did these works of art come from? Are they truly authentic? Or are they impossibly beautiful forgeries?part of the perilous underworld of Chinese art?
As Lia examines her treasure, a breathtaking mystery unravels around her. A smuggler will risk his life for a chance to spirit these imperial antiquities out of China. A dealer in Hong Kong awaits, while a buyer in America is driven by a longing no possession will ever fulfill. And with political intrigue intruding on her world of provenance and beauty, Lia is drawn into another, more personal drama?a love affair that could alter the course of her life...
From the Back Cover:
A Cup of Light returns to that rich, exotic landscape in an enthralling saga of precious works of art?and the human lives illuminated by them. Written with exquisite grace, A Cup of Light is an intoxicating blend of romance and intrigue, complete with a heroine whose voice is irresistible to the last page.
As an appraiser of fine Chinese porcelain, Lia Frank holds fragile beauty in her hands, examines priceless treasure with a magnifying lens. But when Lia looks in the mirror, she sees the flaws in herself, a woman wary of love, cut off from the world around her. Still, when she is sent to Beijing to authenticate a collection of rare pieces, Lia will find herself changing in surprising ways. . .coming alive in the shadow of an astounding mystery. . .drawn into an unfolding saga of artists and thieves, intrigue and longing.
Lia was told the collection was impressive?twenty spectacular pots. Instead, in a vast room in a gated home in Beijing, Lia finds herself surrounded by the impossible: forty crates and eight hundred works of astounding beauty, with pieces reaching back centuries and perhaps even into the royal residence of the Forbidden City. Now Lia must evaluate each fragile pot, pairing each brushstroke and each nearly invisible imperfection with the database in her mind. Her job is to answer questions that will reverberate through dozens of lives: Where did these works of art come from? Are they truly authentic? Or are they impossibly beautiful forgeries?part of the perilous underworld of Chinese art?
As Lia examines her treasure, a breathtaking mystery unravels around her. A smuggler will risk his life for a chance to spirit these imperial antiquities out of China. A dealer in Hong Kong awaits, while a buyer in America is driven by a longing no possession will ever fulfill. And with political intrigue intruding on her world of provenance and beauty, Lia is drawn into another, more personal drama?a love affair that could alter the course of her life...
"An unconventional and intriguing art world mystery...generates real suspense–moving cinematically from character to character and place to place–all the while deftly sketching the intricacies of Chinese porcelain and the world of imitators and smugglers that surround it."
-Publishers Weekly
-Publishers Weekly
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherDell
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 0440333989
- ISBN 13 9780440333982
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages199
- Rating
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