Pandora - Hardcover

Cooper, Jilly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593046978 ISBN 13: 9780593046975

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2002

Synopsis

Raymond Kelvedon had been a dashing subaltern in 1944 when he had come across the glorious painting by Raphael depicting Pandora releasing the seven deadly sins into the world. The painting ended up on the bedroom wall of his beautiful home, Foxes Court, in the peaceful county of Larkshire. His tempestuous wife, Galina, entertained her lovers there as well as giving birth to her four children beneath its watchful gaze, but after her tragic and mysterious death Raymond kept the painting hidden away in a tower room, its existence forgotten by most of those who ever knew about it. Now Raymond is elderly and distinguished. He has his smart gallery in London, a new wife, Anthea, and adorable young twins. His grown-up children - three sons and one daughter - are all fighting their way into the art world. He has a long-standing rivalry with the smooth David Pulborough, once his protege but now his deadly enemy. Then into all their lives erupts Emerald - lovely, talented, and desperately searching for her real parents. Zach Ansteig, a wildly attractive, mysterious American, encourages her to go to Foxes Court where, he persuades her, her birth mother will be found. The result is catastrophic, the Kelvedons outraged, the county agog. But Zach is also searching for something - the Raphael Pandora, which he believes should belong to him...

About this title

About the Author

Jilly Cooper is a well-known journalist, writer and TV personality. Author of many bestselling books, including Riders, Rivals, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Appassionata and Scorel, she and her husband live in Gloucestershire with several dogs and cats.

From the Back Cover

Jilly Cooper's ritzy, riotous new novel takes the lid off the international art world - where successful young artists strut around like rock stars, where artful and crafty dealers indulge in every kind of gallery-pokery, and where the more beautiful the painting, the greater the backstabbing.

No picture ever came more beautiful than Raphael's Pandora. Discovered by a dashing young lieutenant, Raymond Belvedon, in a Normandy Chateau in 1944, she had cast her spell over the Belvedon family - all artists and dealers - for fifty years. Hanging in a turret of their lovely Cotswold house, Pandora witnessed Raymond's tempestuous wife Galena both entertaining a string of lovers and giving birth to her four children.

These children grow up into chilly, manipulative Jupiter, who runs the family gallery, Alizarin the high-handed loner, Jonathan, who blithely beds every beauty he paints, and superbrat Sienna, shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Pandora, meanwhile, has been locked away in her turret, increasing her colossal value by the second.

Then an exquisite stranger rolls up, claiming to be a long-lost daughter of the family and setting the three Belvedon brothers at one another's throats. Accompanying her is Zach, her fatally glamorous American Jewish boyfriend, whose very different agenda includes an unhealthy interest in the Raphael.

During a firework party, the painting is stolen. The hunt to retrieve it takes the reader on a thrilling journey to Vienna, Geneva, Paris, New York and London. After a nail-biting court case and a record-smashing Old Masters sale at Sotheby's, passionate love triumphs and Pandora is restored to her rightful home.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593046978
• ISBN 13: 9780593046975
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 576