The Last Tea Bowl Thief by Jonelle Patrick

The Last Tea Bowl Thief

Jonelle Patrick

Seventh Street Books · Paperback · October 20, 2020

For three hundred years, a stolen relic passes from one fortune-seeker to the next, indelibly altering the lives of those who possess it.

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
A layered mystery links two women’s precarious futures to a tea bowl with centuries of history.
Themes
A relic’s poisoned legacy, Dreams versus moral responsibility, Precarious livelihoods
Genres
Historical Mystery, Japanese Fiction, Cultural Heritage Fiction

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Historical Mystery.

  1. Fires of EdoSusan Spann52% match
  2. Ghost of the Bamboo RoadSusan Spann49% match
  3. The Big Man's DaughterOwen Fitzstephen51% match
  4. Killer CoinElka Ray48% match
  5. Trial on Mount KoyaSusan Spann51% match
  6. The Solace of Bay LeavesLeslie Budewitz51% match
  7. Blade of the SamuraiSusan Spann50% match
  8. Water MoonSamantha Sotto Yambao66% match

For younger readers: Samurai Steal: a YA Time Travel Adventure in Edo Japan, Festival of Shadows, Tokyo Dreaming

Start with three books, and this one can be the first.

Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.

Start with this book

About this book

For three hundred years, a stolen relic passes from one fortune-seeker to the next, indelibly altering the lives of those who possess it. In modern-day Tokyo, Robin Swann’s life has sputtered to a stop. She’s stuck in a dead-end job testing antiquities for an auction house, but her true love is poetry, not pottery. Her stalled dissertation sits on her laptop, unopened in months, and she has no one to confide in but her goldfish.

Continue reading

On the other side of town, Nori Okuda sells rice bowls and tea cups to Tokyo restaurants, as her family has done for generations. But with her grandmother in the hospital, the family business is foundering. Nori knows if her luck doesn’t change soon, she’ll lose what little she has left. With nothing in common, Nori and Robin suddenly find their futures inextricably linked to an ancient, elusive tea bowl. Glimpses of the past set the stage as they hunt for the lost masterpiece, uncovering long-buried secrets in their wake. As they get closer to the truth—and the tea bowl—the women must choose between seizing their dreams or righting the terrible wrong that has poisoned its legacy for centuries.

A Bowl’s Long Shadow

A layered mystery links two women’s precarious futures to a tea bowl with centuries of history.

Come here for

  • An elusive relic and the lives it changes across three hundred years
  • Modern Tokyo, antiquities, and a search for buried secrets

Expect

  • Glimpses of the past woven into a present-day hunt
  • A contemplative choice between personal dreams and setting an old wrong right

Where it sits

Historical Mystery73%
Japanese Fiction36%
Cultural Heritage Fiction24%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Women Detectives
  • International Crime Fiction
  • Asian American Fiction
Authors
Jonelle Patrick
Publisher
Seventh Street Books
Published
October 20, 2020
Format
Paperback
Theme
A relic’s poisoned legacy · Dreams versus moral responsibility · Precarious livelihoods
Reading lane
Women Detectives