The Golden Manuscripts: A Novel by Evy Journey
“for fans of immersive literary fiction with plenty of deep character-based drama. — Reviewed by KC Finn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Discounted to $0.99 in July, 2023.
Clarissa, an Asian/Caucasian young woman has lived in seven different countries and has no lasting connection to any place. She thinks it’s time to settle somewhere she could eventually call home. But where?
She decides to live in the city of her birth. There, she joins a quest for the provenance of stolen illuminated manuscripts—a medieval art form that languished with the fifteenth-century invention of the printing press—hoping it would give her the sense of belonging she craves. But will it be enough?
For her, these ancient manuscripts elicit cherished memories of children’s picture books her mother read to her, nourishing a passion for art.
The trail of the manuscripts leads to an American soldier who served in World War II. Clarissa is anxious to know what motivated him to steal and keep the artwork for fifty years. But instead of easy answers, she finds bigger questions.
Immersed in art, but naïve about life, she’s disheartened and disillusioned by the machinations the quest reveals of an esoteric, sometimes unscrupulous art world. What compels individuals to steal artworks, and conquerors to plunder them from the vanquished? Who decides the value of an art piece and how?
The Golden Manuscripts: A Novel is based on the actual theft of medieval manuscript illuminations during the second world war.
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Author Bio:
Evy studied psychology (M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D. University of Illinois) initially to help her understand herself and Dostoevsky. Now, she spins tales about multicultural characters dealing with problems and issues of contemporary life.
Just as she has crossed genres in writing fiction, she has also crossed cultures, having lived and traveled in various cities in different countries. Find her thoughts on travel, art, and food at https://eveonalimb2.com.
She says, “I invent multicultural characters for the obvious reason that I, myself, am one. I spent my early years in a country of hybrid traditions, defined by waves of colonizers and immigrants—nearly four hundred years of Spanish rule, fifty years of American colonization, and ten years of Japanese invasion. Plus waves of Chinese immigrants. You could say I was born multicultural. Today, I live in a veritable melting pot, and I love to travel to keep experiencing other cultures.”