Bronze Mirror
Henry Holt & Co., 1991, Authors Guild/iUniverse 2009
An opera based on this book, libretto & score by Milton Granger, was premiered by the Ga. State University School of Music, April 19 & 20, 2002.
"A dazzling extension of the author's Silk Road--not a sequel but a reprise, with new casting, of Larsen's time-riddling, worlds-whirling magical show....A quite special pleasure."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"No picture could possibly do justice to this rich, shimmering tapestry that playfully entwines both the heavenly and human realms....Bronze Mirror, with its whimsical melding of myth and history, is not only a captivating novel but also a provocative comment on the art of storytelling."
Nancy Pate, The Orlando Sentinel
"Events range from the tragic to the lewd, from the richly comic to the deeply religious, while Larsen preserves for her readers the sense that she, and they, are examining some rare art work....Anyone with a fondness for satire, sentiment, and high style will prize Bronze Mirror, and return to it, surprised ech time by the levels of meaning that Larsen packs into her deceptively artless but richly textured prose."
Susan Shwartz Newsday
'Jeanne Larsen, who previously conjured up the floating vistas of medieval China in Silk Road, returns to her theme without repeating herself; this is the summer's most audacious entertainment."
Time magazine
"'A story's just a mirror to the world,' Larsen says, as she develops a pair of tales, each a reflection of the other....Larsen is a gifted writer, and Bronze Mirror a worthy successor to her first novel: a rich, satisfying tale, as intricate as one of the Silkweb Empress's paintings, and sparkling with a rare degree of wit."
Judith Tarr, The Washington Post