The Cup of Light by Nicole Mones (2/81)

When a young porcelain expert flies to China to evaluate a collection of artwork up for international sale, she lands in circumstances vastly different from what she expected. Lia Frank finds greed, deception, and political turbulence instead of clarity when she tries to learn the origin of a huge collection of priceless porcelains. 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.

I was drawn to this book mainly for the cover it was so inviting and pretty .... I have to say that it is quite an easy read and interesting ....

It is amazing how a small porcelain cup could fetch over 3.5 million in an auction and more amazing that someone would pay that even on the black market and let it have a pride of place in their home but not let anyone know that it was there ... I would be itching to show it to people ... But that would be me !!!

The detail in the book about the porcelain pieces is lovely and fascinating and it is nice to see an author who really does alot of research ... And it shows ...

The story is basically about a woman Lai who is goes to china to authenticate porcelain pieces to see whether they where from The Forbidden City and once belonged to the Emperor ...

Even though I liked the book and it was an easy read I did find that there was something missing ... I just cannot put my finger on it I think that I was expecting something more to happen in the storyline which never happened !!! There where some story lines that where mentioned but never developed ... And at the end of the book I was abit disappointed as I felt it sort of just ended ....

But all in all it was a nice easy read and I would be interested in reading some more of her books in the future !!

I rate this book 3***