Aesop's Mirror A Love Story [Paperback]

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING

Falling in love at first sight with a mirror in a Rhode Island auction, Maryalice Huggins sets out to discover its history and learns that it was likely passed down through generations of the illustrious Brown family. Certain of the mirror's prestige, she goes up against the leading lights of the fascinating high-end antiques world and discovers that the value of a beautiful object and its market value are not the same thing at all. As Huggins concludes her delightful (Jacki Lyden, NPR) quest of sleuthing, research, and obsession, she learns the true meaning of art.

Maryalice Hugginsis a restorer and gilder of antique mirrors. She has worked for museums, interior decorators, and private collectors. She lives in Middletown, Rhode Island.

Maryalice Huggins has mirror fever, and her quest to understand one special antique mirror makes great reading--part history, part love story, and an altogether fascinating look at the secretive, seductive world of rare things. Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief

Mixing antiquarian know-how with narrative suspense, Maryalice Huggins has somehow transformed an obsession with an antique mirror into an erudite nail-biter. Billy Collins

I was mesmerized--not just by the history behind this story, but also by the passion that drove Huggins to delve into the past, and into herself, to figure out why we love what we love, and why finally understanding our passions is always bittersweet. Sara Nelson, author of So Many Books, So Little Time

A rollicking read. The Providence Journal

Huggins's passion for objects and history is contagious . . . [Aesop's Mirroris] a short, suspense-filled whodunit, and you will know every name in it! Maine Antique Digest

A knowledgeable frolic through the high-end world of the buying and selling of early American decorative lÓ>