Fragile Cargo

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

The gripping true story of the intrepid curators who saved China's art from the ravages of the Sino-Japanese War and WW2

Fragile Cargo will share the as-yet-untold story of the brave people who saved China's art from the ravages of the Second World War, undertaking a perilous journey across the vast country in order to protect these fragile treasures. After the end of the war, and the beginning of the Communist regime, the Forbidden City curators were each faced with a stark choice: remain with their rescued artefacts in China, or flee with them to Taiwan. Depending on their choice, the curators' fates took startlingly different, sometimes heart-breaking turns.

Author and former BBC Beijing correspondent Adam Brookes draws on first-hand diary accounts and his own interviews with eyewitnesses to offer a new perspective on China's twentieth-century history, exploring the cultural, social and political impact of the war and the Revolution on the country's people and its art heritage.

© Adam Brookes 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

  • A compelling story of art, war and adventure. An extraordinary odyssey of the imperial treasures of the Forbidden City, protected by heroic and remarkable curators… Superb

    Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR

  • A story of bravery and ingenuity, and equally of the critical role cultural heritage plays in forming and maintaining national identity.

    Wall Street Journal

  • So much more than a work of art history, Brookes’s book illuminates the exceptional dramas of the Chinese front in the Second World War, a theatre of the conflict that is still insufficiently understood

    Literary Review

  • Adam Brookes has an eye for a great story and knows how to tell it. Fragile Cargo cannot fail to delight… I enjoyed it enormously

    John Keay, author of CHINA: A HISTORY

  • A riveting read… With his meticulously researched and detailed writing, Adam Brookes takes us on a compelling journey through this extraordinary chapter of Chinese history. Fragile Cargo reads like a thriller… Gripping stuff

    Alexi Kaye Campbell, writer of feature film WOMAN IN GOLD

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