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    A Cup of Light
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    A Cup of Light
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    A Cup of Light
    Ebook308 pages6 hours

    A Cup of Light

    By Nicole Mones

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers Australia
    Release dateApr 1, 2014
    ISBN9781460703458
    Unavailable
    A Cup of Light
    Author

    Nicole Mones

    Nicole Mones is the author of the award-winning novels THE LAST CHINESE CHEF, LOST IN TRANSLATION and A CUP OF LIGHT, which are in print in more than twenty languages. She started a textile business in China at the end of the Cultural Revolution and ran it for eighteen years, and she brings to her fiction writing an in-depth understanding of China and its culture. Her nonfiction writing on China has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Gourmet and the Washington Post. She is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. She lives in Portland, Oregon. www.nicolemones.com

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    Reviews for A Cup of Light

    3.5/5

    50 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I really like this author. All of her books are set in modern day China with a female American woman who is an expert in a particular field, and that subject is woven throughout the book. In A Cup of Light the main character is an authority on ancient Chinese porcelain, so you learn something about that as well as a bit of related history as you read the book. In each of the Mones books the characters are extremely competent in their professional lives while being troubled by insecurity personally. Lia's concern is "What is real?", both in the antiquities she studies as well as in her relationships.

    • 3/5
      Marvelous descriptions of cups, bowls, and other porcelain objects. The care and grace taken in making a bowl begs the question of what is authentic and what is a copy.
    • 4/5
      Nicole Mones beautifully captures a rich vein of Chinese culture in A Cup of Light, her second novel (following up on Lost In Translation). The main character, Lia, is a young American who is an expert appraiser of ancient Chinese porcelain. She is hearing-impaired but with super-heightened observation skills. The book takes us on her journey as she seeks to sort the genuine from the fake, the luminous from the ordinary. Along the way, we cross paths with a smuggler who risks everything to get cultural artifacts out of China, and the American collector with a need for more than fine china. I found the book a delightful escape with much to offer (suspense, romance, history, and a better appreciation for the art and craft of making porcelain). Drink up A Cup of Light!
    • 4/5
      Story of a woman that is sent to China to appraise a large "just found" collection of porcelain - and the people she meets while there. Lots of interesting historical facts built into the story. Quick moving and interesting.