Hunt for White Gold

by Mark Keating (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $4.27

  Made in China and imported by the East India Company for the kings, queens and rising middle classes of Europe, porcelain has become the most valuable commodity in the West. They call it white gold.

  The secret method of its manufacture would make a millionarie of the man who discovered it or a great power of the nation which held it.

  And now that closely-guarded formula has been smuggled out of China in a letter which half the world is chasing - including servant-turned-pirate Patrick Devlin.

  To find the letter and secure the release of his kidnapped friend Peter Sam, Devlin must sail to the island of New Providence and a confrontation with his former master Captain John Coxon - not to mention Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach, a man with a fearsome reputatlin, a deep grudge, and a long memory.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2011

  $3.31

  Sold by his father for four guineas, Patrick Devlin was working as a servant to Royal Navy Captain John Coxon when he was catpured by pirates. Now, Devlin has himself become one of the most feared pirates in the world - and Coxon his most bitter foe. But in this thrilling new historical adventure it is not gold that Devlin is chasing, but something even more valuable. The early 18th Century is obsessed with the flavours of the New World - coffee and chocolate. And only one material enables the kings, queens and rising middle classes of Europe to drink without burning their fingers on the handles of their cups - Chinese porcelain. In a brilliant conspiracy story reaching from the unknown empires of the East to the restless new colonies of America, a letter has gone missing. In the letter lies the formula for the manufacture of Chinese porcelain, and whoever can find the letter can name his price - and even change the course of history, by enriching the nation that owns the secret. Valentim Mendes, a Portugese noble who has crossed swords with Devlin before, now seeks to blackmail him into finding the letter. And wherever Devlin goes, his nemesis Coxon is never far behind.