The Filigree Master's Apprentice - by Jeannine Johnson Maia (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- Set in a city of merchants and workers, sailors and kings, the privileged and the poor, The Filigree Master's Apprentice is a story of resilience, friendship, and a young man's search for the person he wants to become.
- Author(s): Jeannine Johnson Maia
- 272 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Historical
Description
About the Book
The Filigree Master's Apprentice is the story of a young man who flees Portugal's Douro Valley for a new - and precarious - life in 19th-century Porto.
Book Synopsis
Set in a city of merchants and workers, sailors and kings, the privileged and the poor, The Filigree Master's Apprentice is a story of resilience, friendship, and a young man's search for the person he wants to become.
Portugal, October 1877: When 17-year-old Henrique is offered a job in Porto, he jumps at the opportunity to escape his harsh life among the vineyards of a Port wine estate. Behind him is a searing betrayal he wants to forget. Ahead is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in the elegant shop of a goldsmith in a city that's preparing to inaugurate a magnificent iron bridge over the Douro River.
But in Porto, the welcome he receives is far from friendly. As he struggles to make the city his own, he explores its sinuous streets, rubs shoulders with mapmakers and rabble-rousers, and begins to learn the delicate art of filigree-making.
When an unwelcome acquaintance from his past appears, dredging up old accusations of thievery, Henrique finds both his new life - and the bridge that symbolizes it - under threat. He must decide what he's willing to risk to save himself, his adopted city's illustrious new landmark, and maybe even Portugal's royal family.