The Lens of Desire

Sometimes the only way to uncover a destiny is to watch cherished illusions shatter like a thousand pieces of glass.Tanya Zhukova, a White Russian artist, struggles to make a living in glamorous 1930's Shanghai. The city's veneer of sophistication merely glosses over a perilous underbelly, one where a woman can easily be drawn into vices that are beyond redemption just to survive.Spymaster Richard Hellyer takes Tanya to his bed, entertaining himself with her charms when it suits him. He then disappears into a world of intrigue, leaving few clues behind for his abandoned lover to follow.Obsessed with winning Richard's love, Tanya will stop at nothing to achieve her aim, not even if it means throwing away her hard won security and the only home she has ever known.In a dangerous journey that leads them into Japanese occupied Manchuria, Tanya and Richard play a game of power, deceit, and sensuality, where the stakes are deadly and only history remembers the winner.