The Golden Manuscripts is inspired by the real-life theft of medieval manuscript illuminations during World War II.
Title: The Golden Manuscripts: A Novel
Author: Evy Journey
Pages: 360
Genre: Historical Fiction/Women's Fiction/Mystery
Book Excerpt:
November 2000
Rare Manuscripts
I sometimes wish I was your girl next door. The pretty one who listens to you and sympathizes. Doesn’t ask questions you can’t or don’t want to answer. Comes when you need to talk.
She’s sweet, gracious, respectful, and sincere. An open book. Everybody’s ideal American girl.
At other times, I wish I was the beautiful girl with creamy skin, come-hither eyes, and curvy lines every guy drools over. The one you can’t have, unless you’re a hunk of an athlete, or the most popular hunk around. Or you have a hunk of money.
But I’m afraid the image I project is that of a brain with meager social skills. The one you believe can outsmart you in so many ways that you keep out of her way—you know the type. Or at least you think you do. Just as you think you know the other two.
I want to believe I’m smart, though I know I can be dumb. I’m not an expert on anything. So, please wait to pass judgement until you get to know us better—all three of us.
Who am I then?
I’m not quite sure yet. I’m the one who’s still searching for where she belongs.
I’m not a typical American girl. Dad is Asian and Mom is white. I was born into two different cultures, neither of which dug their roots into me. But you’ll see my heritage imprinted all over me—on beige skin with an olive undertone; big grey eyes, double-lidded but not deep-set; a small nose with a pronounced narrow bridge; thick, dark straight hair like Dad’s that glints with bronze under the sun, courtesy of Mom’s genes.
I have a family: Mom, Dad, Brother. Sadly, we’re no longer one unit. Mom and Dad are about ten thousand miles apart. And my brother and I are somewhere in between.
I have no one I call friend. Except myself, of course. That part of me who perceives my actions for what they are. My inner voice. My constant companion and occasional nemesis. Moving often and developing friendships lasting three years at most, I’ve learned to turn inward.
And then there’s Arthur, my beautiful brother. Though we were raised apart, we’ve become close. Like me, he was born in the US. But he grew up in my father’s home city where his friends call him Tisoy, a diminutive for Mestizo that sometimes hints at admiration, sometimes at mockery. Locals use the label for anyone with an obvious mix of Asian and Caucasian features. We share a few features, but he’s inherited a little more from Mom. Arthur has brown wavy hair and green eyes that invite remarks from new acquaintances.
Little Arthur, not so little anymore. Taller than me now, in fact, by two inches. We’ve always gotten along quite well. Except the few times we were together when we were children and he’d keep trailing me, like a puppy, mimicking what I did until I got annoyed. I’d scowl at him, run away so fast he couldn’t catch up. Then I’d close my bedroom door on him. Sometimes I wondered if he annoyed me on purpose so that later he could hug me and say, “I love you” to soften me up. It always worked.
I love Arthur not only because we have some genes in common. He has genuinely lovable qualities—and I’m sure people can’t always say that of their siblings. He’s caring and loyal, and I trust him to be there through thick and thin. I also believe he’s better put together than I am, he whom my parents were too busy to raise.
I am certain of only one thing about myself: I occupy time and space like everyone. My tiny space no one else can claim on this planet, in this new century. But I still do not have a place where I would choose to spend and end my days. I’m a citizen of a country, though. The country where I was born. And yet I can’t call that country home. I don’t know it much. But worse than that, I do not have much of a history there.
Before today, I trudged around the globe for two decades. Cursed and blessed by having been born to a father who was a career diplomat sent on assignments to different countries, I’ve lived in different cities since I was born, usually for three to four years at a time.
Those years of inhabiting different cities in Europe and Asia whizzed by. You could say I hardly noticed them because it was the way of life I was born into. But each of those cities must have left some lasting mark on me that goes into the sum of who I am. And yet, I’m still struggling to form a clear idea of the person that is Me. This Me can’t be whole until I single out a place to call home.
Everyone has a home they’ve set roots in. We may not be aware of it, but a significant part of who we think we are—who others think we are—depends on where we’ve lived. The place we call home. A place I don’t have. Not yet. But I will.
I was three when I left this city. Having recently come back as an adult, I can’t tell whether, or for how long, I’m going to stay. You may wonder why, having lived in different places, I would choose to seek a home in this city—this country as alien to me as any other town or city I’ve passed through.
By the end of my last school year at the Sorbonne, I was convinced that if I were to find a home, my birthplace might be my best choice. I was born here. In a country where I can claim citizenship. Where the primary language is English. My choice avoids language problems and pesky legal residency issues. Practical and logical reasons, I think.
Review
An Immersive Tale that Plunges Beneath the Surface of the Murky World of Art
1945. A soldier in the midst of war. An order to catalog and protect religious artifacts. A rare manuscript. A conscience warning that theft is wrong. A temptation too great to ignore. A secret kept safe until a student stumbles across a decades-old mystery.
This is the premise of THE GOLDEN MANUSCRIPTS by Evy Journey. Entertaining and delivering a rather fascinating lesson in art history, I’d liken it to a Raiders of the Lost Ark adventure sans the supernatural. Instead the plot adheres to the cold hard reality of crime and how the world is deprived by someone’s selfish deed.
The story piqued my interest at the beginning, and my interest never wavered. One reason was the characters. I especially liked the four leads as each is unique and beautifully crafted. In fact, they were very fleshed out and brushstroked to perfection. In terms of the pacing of this novel, the tempo is kept reined in to moderate, and it’s through the use of this tactic that the main character is allowed to reminisce. The divorce of her parents, first loves, doubts and failures, and an unforgiving past are shared and connect us to the heroine of this tale … which brings me to the writing of the story.
The author has done a masterful job in terms of syntax, language and vocabulary. Bravely and honestly written, it is, in fact, this authoritative command of language that helps sell the central characters and this story. This holds especially true for Clarissa, a college student who is the first to spot a news item about a 15th-century illuminated manuscript that is up for sale. It’s her conversations, as written by Ms. Journey, that unerringly bolster and authenticate that Clarissa herself is learned, and that she’s speaking with erudite individuals who breathe rarefied, knowledge-seeking air.
I had a wonderful time pulling closed the curtains on real life, and being absorbed into the devouring of this story. With a fascinating plotline, intriguing characters, and an absorbing mystery to solve, THE GOLDEN MANUSCRIPTS makes for a stellar read. FIVE STARS for this one.
Evy Journey writes. Stories and blog posts. Novels that tend to cross genres. She’s also a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse. Evy studied psychology (M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D. University of Illinois). So her fiction spins tales about nuanced characters dealing with contemporary life issues and problems. She believes in love and its many faces. Her one ungranted wish: To live in Paris where art is everywhere and people have honed aimless roaming to an art form. She has visited and stayed a few months at a time.
Author Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
Evy Journey will giving away nine $25 Amazon Gift Cards & nine boxed sets of the last 3 books in the series, Between Two Worlds! This is the way it works. Evy is touring for 6 months. At the end of each 2 month period she will be giving away 3 $25 Amazon Gift Cards and 3 boxed sets of the last 3 books in the series, Between Two Worlds. You will have a chance to win 3 times during her tour!
Terms & Conditions:
- By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
- Nine winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card and a boxed set of the last 3 books in the series, Between Two Worlds.
- This giveaway starts February 5 and ends July 30.
- Winners will be contacted via email on March 28, May 31 and July 30.
- Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Love these genres and would be interesting to see how they blend.
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