Dragon Bones: A Novel | Lisa See
When the body of an American archaeologist is found floating in the Yangzi River, Ministry of Public Security agent Liu Hulan and her husband, American attorney David Stark, are dispatched to Site 518 to investigate. As Hulan scrutinizes this deathor is it a murder?David, on behalf of the National Relics Bureau, tries to discover who has stolen from the site an artifact that may prove to the world Chinas claim that it is the oldest uninterrupted civilization on earth. This artifact is not only an object of great monetary value but one that is emblematic of the very soul of China. Everyonefrom the Chinese government, to a religious cult, to an unscrupulous American art collectorwants this relic, and some, it seems, may be willing to kill to get it. At stake in this investigation is control of Chinas history and national pride, and even stability between China and the United States. The troubled Hulan must overcome her own fears of failure, while David tries desperately to break through the shell that has built up around his wife. As Hulan and David are enmeshed in international schemes for power and the turbulence of their own relationship, these hunters after the truth become the huntedin a fast-driving narrative set against the backdrop of the building of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest and most expensive project China has undertaken since the Great Wall and the subject of great international debate. It is here, in the heart of the Three Gorges, that David and Hulan will battle their enemies and their own natures to see who will win Chinas dragon bones. Dragon Bones combines ancient myth with contemporary anxieties concerning religious fanaticism and terrorism to tell a story of love, betrayal, history, ecology, greedand gory murder. From the Hardcover edition.
Dragon Bones: A Novel | 
