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Zusatztext "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 “A page-turner that leads us into a closed! sometimes clandestine world… Mones’ talent for intrigue runneth over.” -- The Dallas Morning News “Beguiling…Intelligent and consistently interesting! with an engagingly original cast! subject! and themes.” -- Kirkus Reviews “A delightful novel.” -- Los Angeles Times “Magnetic storytelling…with writing that is both spare and lyrical.” -- The Seattle Times “Mysterious! suspenseful! and…written with exquisite grace.” -- The Portland Tribune (Oregon) Informationen zum Autor Nicole Mones Klappentext As an American 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. As Lia evaluates each fragile pot, she must 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. 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. Leseprobe CHAPTER 1 From his black-windowed sedan roaring to the airport, Gao Yideng looked out on Beijing. Steel-and-glass skyscrapers, banks, hotels, international corporations and consulting groups flashed by. Ads and billboards blinked against the sky. The future was here. That which was irrecoverable the past had come to seem more desired, more priceless than ever. And Gao had a piece of it to sell. The right buyer would give almost anything to possess it. The trick was making it happen. He watched the Jichang Expressway, hands tight in concentration. Now one of the foreign porcelain experts had fallen ill on the plane and the other, the woman, was arriving alone. Perhaps she’d be more malleable by herself than the two of them would have been together. Not that Gao would lie to her. But there were many facets of this situation, those that were exposed, those kept from view. The bottom line was the art, and thank the gods, that was straight from heaven. It was extraordinary and spoke for itself. He winced away from the part of his insides that grieved him. It was a dull knife scraping, the same place, familiar, like a well-worn knob of bone. He didn’t have enough. He never would. Not the blocks of real estate in Shanghai and Beijing; not the shares of computer companies. Every day of his life was a maw that needed more. He laid his hand across his stomach. And he’d had the dream once more last night. In the dream he was always back in the famine of 1961. He was in the place he grew up, a Yangtze town, in a maze of alleys, with trailing trees and decrepit stone buildings. And he was with Peng, his best boyhood friend. Out of everyone in his life, all those whom he’d known, Peng was the one person for whom he would have died. What he had with Peng was deeper than friendship. Not love, but something like it. Peng and Yideng had foraged for food together. Most of their days and nights were devoted to scavenging whatever scraps they coul...
