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by Nancy K. Napier (Author)
What happens when an ambitious museum employee from Vietnam discovers art crime that affects her family and country? Thuy, a proud 39-year-old aspiring museum curator in Hanoi, Vietnam, loses a long-sought-after job but then gets the chance to mount a major visiting exhibit at her museum, which could boost her career. The exhibit will showcase paintings "returning home" to Vietnam. A collector in France has offered to loan Vietnamese artists' paintings that have been outside the country for years. Several paintings are by her famous great-uncle, whose reputation has been critical for the family legacy for decades. But, right before the exhibit opens, she's faced with the possibility that some of the paintings are fake. She must find out if they are, why they are, and who's behind the scam.
Her father insists she tell no one, not even the museum's director and curator. She fears that opening with forged paintings could ruin her reputation, along with the artists', the museum, and the country. She approaches the collector, who claims he had no idea and insists she open the exhibit. Backed into a corner, she must find out who's behind the fake pieces in the exhibit before the opening, but in the process, she learns there are fakes in her museum's permanent collection as well. The more she searches, the more she suspects someone inside the museum or, even worse, her father, is involved with the scheme. Has her family been living a myth? Is her family really one of artistic prestige, or is the legacy her father has created just a lie? If this is a myth, how deep does the conspiracy run? And if her father is involved, does she turn him in, which will destroy the family and its legacy, or protect the integrity of her museum, the artists, and the country?
