Fragile Cargo by Adam Brookes

Fragile Cargo by Adam Brookes

The gripping true story of the bold and determined museum curators who saved the priceless treasures of China's Forbidden City in the years leading up to World War II and beyond.

Spring 1933: The silent courtyards and palaces of Peking's Forbidden City, for centuries the home of Chinese emperors, are tense with fear and expectation. Japan's aircrafts drone overhead, its troops and tanks are only hours away. All-out war between China and Japan is coming, and the curators of the Forbidden City are faced with an impossible question: how will they protect the vast imperial art collections in their charge? A difficult and monumental decision is made: to safeguard the treasures, they will need to be evacuated.

The magnificent collections contain a million pieces of art--objects that carry China's deepest and most ancient memories. Among them are irreplaceable artefacts: exquisite paintings on silk, vanishingly rare Ming porcelain, and the extraordinary Stone Drums of Qin, which are adorned with 2,500-year-old inscriptions of crucial cultural significance.

For sixteen terrifying years, under the quiet leadership of museum director Ma Heng, the curators would go on to transport the imperial art collections thousands of miles across China--up rivers of white water, across mountain ranges, and through burning cities. In their search for safety the curators and their fragile, invaluable cargo journeyed through the maelstrom of violence, chaos, and starvation that was China's Second World War.

Told for the first time in English and playing out across a vast historical canvas, this is the exhilarating story of a small group of men and women who, when faced with war's onslaught on civilization, chose to resist. Fragile Cargo reminds us of the enduring power of beauty in a world beset by conflict and violence.

For many years, Adam Brookes worked as a journalist and foreign reporter for BBC News. He reported from China, Indonesia, the United States, and a number of other nations, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Night Heron, his debut novel, was nominated for the CWA John Creasey Dagger in 2014 and made best of year lists in the TLS, Kirkus, and NPR; Spy Games, his follow-up, was nominated for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. His third novel is The Spy's Daughter. In Takoma Park, Maryland, he lives with his family.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781982149291
ISBN 10	1982149299
Title	Fragile Cargo
Author	Adam Brookes
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Atria Books
Year published	2023-02-14
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.