I tried, I really did. There was way to much detail about antiques and the set up went on and on. I have no idea what the plot was. Was there a plot? I didn't ever get to it.

Title: Florian’s Gate (The Priceless Collection #1)
Author: Davis Bunn
Pages: 333
Year: 2013 (re-release date); original year of publication 1992
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
Note: I received a complimentary copy for an honest review of this book from www.bookfun.org
Florian’s Gate is the first book in “The Priceless Collection” series by Davis Bunn; it has also been released before in 1992. The setting is London and Poland shortly after the Berlin Wall has fallen. The main characters are Jeffrey Sinclair, who is from America and his cousin Alexander Kantor, who is from Poland, but is very wealthy and has residences all over Europe.
Alexander Kantor has a reputation for obtaining the most exquisite and rare antiques for his antique business. People wonder where he gets them because he rarely produces the provenance for his finds. Is he involved in something shady or even illegal? He is approaching 70 years of age and hires his cousin Jeffrey to work for him to learn the business and eventually take over. Jeffrey doesn’t know this when he accepts the job. After about a year, Alexander takes Jeffrey on his first buying trip. What Jeffrey discovers on this trip is shocking and life changing. Alexander feels it is time to deal with his past, but can he wade through the myriad of emotions to find resolution and peace?
Jeffrey Sinclair is approaching 30 and bored with his life in America. When his cousin travels from London to offer him a job, Jeffrey realizes this is the opportunity of a lifetime and readily accepts. Jeffrey must learn the ins-and-outs of the antique business. He also builds a reputation for honesty in the antique world. He is fascinated by his assistant Katya and believes she is the “one”. She is very reserved and questions him about his faith or lack thereof. She is a strong believer and wonders why Jeffrey is not. Jeffrey wonders what Katya is keeping from him and why she won’t completely trust him.
This is a well-researched and well-written book with descriptions of antiques and places that give the reader a “you are there” feeling as if you are really seeing what is being described. I learned about the antique business and Polish culture, history and Communist Poland. There was also a gut-wrenching and heart-rending portion of the story that takes place at Auschwitz, one of the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. This is described in vivid detail and just made my heart ache for what these people endured. Readers also see Poland post-Communism and the intense struggles that take place just to live every day. The story takes a while to get moving, however. It is rather tedious at the beginning, but don’t give up. Jeffrey and Alexander are very likeable characters. The question of why does God allow suffering is addressed, and the two men begin to seek Him.
My rating is 4 stars.
Note: The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. Other reviews can be read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/ . Also follow me on Twitter @lcjohnson1988, FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.johnson.75457 ( )

Review is included with the paperback version which I also have.

Great book about adults, antiques, and Poland Holocaust. Set in modern times some of the older adults remember Holocaust.
Also have it on Kindle.

When I first began to read this novel by T. Davis Bunn, I wondered if it was just going to be a rather slow moving book about old people and antiques. As I read further, I realized that the book was going to go much deeper than the surface story of 28 year old Jeffrey Sinclair who decides to move to London and work for his great uncle’s antique business.
The story takes you into Poland shortly after the fall of Communism and during the transition to democracy. The people are in poverty, but some have horded priceless treasures which they must sell for various reasons. So this takes young Jeffrey and his friend Katya Nichols from shacks and museums to hidden vaults in a salt mine and even to Auschwitz museum where Jeffrey emerges never to be quite the same again.
I did not realize until I got to the back of the book in acknowledgements that these characters and stories were based on real life stories. Some were stories from Bunn’s in-laws who experienced the horrors described by characters in Florian’s Gate. The main characters in the book are in fact, based on real people and some of their accounts from the Nazi death camps are almost word for word as they were related to the author.
The book does move slowly, in a philosophical discussion format that reminds me of one of my other favorite authors Michael Phillips. It deals with deep spiritual issues, particularly in regard to human suffering and the very real scars that people today are carrying from their past experiences. It is the story of hope found in Christ for moving beyond the painful memories. This is not a story with fast paced action and heroes, but it is the true story in the form of a novel, of the endurance of a nation that suffered under both Nazism and Communism.