A gripping story of love and deception set against the world of Chinese porcelain smuggling.
Lia is an expert in Chinese porcelain. Possessed of a staggering memory for every piece she has ever seen, Lia can construct the story of any work she is asked to evaluate. Now she is being sent from her New York office to Beijing to assess a very special collection of 20 pieces.
But from the moment she arrives in China, it becomes clear things are not as they seem. For a start, instead of 20 pieces for her to catalogue and appraise, there are over 800. Many of them of the very finest quality, but there are also fakes: works of exquisite craftsmanship in their own right.
As Lia diligently sets to work, a chance meeting with an American doctor also working in Beijing opens new possibilities - and probes old vulnerabilities. As this relationship gingerly moves forward, other wheels are also in motion: among the professional smugglers, among connoisseurs looking for a special piece, even among the mainland Chinese police, who do not flinch from imposing the highest penalty on smugglers.
In this world, beauty always has a price, and nothing can be judged too finely . . .
