The colour of heaven - James Runcie

From the author of THE DISCOVERY OF CHOCOLATE - a romantic historical quest set in Renaissance Venice and China surrounding the search for ultramarine.

THE COLOUR OF HEAVEN is a fictional account of a young man who travelled to what are now Afghanistan and China to discover lapis lazuli, the precious stone that when turned into ultramarine changed the history of painting - allowing artists to abandon gold as a background and open up depth, landscape and perspective with the most beautiful shade of blue.

Along the way, Paolo suffers the torments of unfulfilled love before he returns to his anxious family in Venice, where he also plays a part in the early development of lenses and spectacles!