China’s most beautiful garden. The man who built it. The woman who had to leave it.
18th century China. Giuseppe Castiglione, a promising and ambitious Italian painter, is recruited by the Jesuits to serve the Emperor of China. Tasked with turning a country estate into an imperial wonderland, Giuseppe enters the Garden of Perfect Brightness and meets Niuhuru, concubine to a minor prince.
Drawn together, yet always kept apart, each has no choice but to follow the path fate has laid out for them. But as the Garden changes and Niuhuru is swept upwards to ever-greater importance, is something precious being lost? And will either of them ever find a way to express their feelings?
A delicately told story of unspoken love and art forming a bridge between two cultures, The Garden of Perfect Brightness is the irresistible third book in the Forbidden City historical fiction series. If you enjoy exploring the extraordinary destinies of real historical characters, then you’ll be touched by Melissa Addey’s novel of love and longing.
