Jade Cabinet

Made speechless by her eccentric father, the beautiful Etheria is traded for a piece of precious jade. Memory, her sister, tells her story, that of a childhood enlivened by Lewis Carroll and an orangutan named Dr. Johnson, and envenomed by the pernicious courtship of Radulph Tubbs, Queen Victoria's own Dragon of Industry.
The Jade Cabinet, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, is both a riveting novel and a reflection on the nature of memory and desire, language and power.

"Ducornet . . . enlivens her illusory tale of imagination and allegory with delightful moments of humor and acerbic satire. . . . There is much to be savored in this brilliant novel." (Rocky Mountain News 5-2-93)

"Ducornet writes prose of hothouse delicacy with the exquisite intimacy of a Fabergè egg. . . . The Jade Cabinet is at once philosophical, speculative, ornate, and self-indulgent." (American Book Review Dec 93-Jan 94)

"Feminists who narrowly define their 'isms' may find fault with Ducornet's novels, which are often bawdy and flirtatious, evocative of Lewis Carroll and Rabelais; however, those readers taking offense will be cheating themselves out of some of the most magnificent and merciful writing available today." (Belles Lettres Summer 93)

"Magic is at the heart of this novel—not only the magic that becomes Etheria's means of escape, but more deeply, the magic of the everyday miracles of language and memory." (Columbus Dispatch 7-29-93)

"Rich in subplots and bizarre characters, this lovely, exotic fiction is highly recommended." (Library Journal 2-1-93)