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A Family's Story of Obsession, Love, and Loss
by Serena Kutchinsky
A riveting, heart-stopping family memoir that blends art, obsession, and love as the author searches for the spectacular jeweled egg that consumed her father's dreams—and spelled her family's downfall.
When she was eleven years old, Serena Kutchinsky's life changed forever. Her father Paul, who owned the high-end jewelry company the House of Kutchinsky, set out to create the world's largest jeweled egg—one to rival Fabergé's masterpieces. He succeeded, but at a ruinous price.
The Argyle Library Egg was astonishing: two feet tall, made of solid gold, and dripping with pink diamonds. But when Paul was unable to secure a buyer, the House of Kutchinsky collapsed, his marriage fell apart, and he sank into a spiral of drink and drugs. Within ten years he was dead. As for the egg, it was seized by business partners and disappeared without a trace.
Over time, the mystery of the egg began to eat away at Serena. Why did her father risk everything for the pursuit of this audacious dream? And where in the world was his extravagant, ill-fated creation, which had been lost for decades and was estimated to now be worth more than £30 million. Desperate for answers, she set out in search of the egg—and an elusive understanding of her late father. The journey begins in the slums of London's East End where her great-great-grandparents arrived as Jewish immigrants from Russia—and ends in the most unexpected of places.
Echoing the intimacy of The Hare with Amber Eyes, Kutchinsky's Egg is a spellbinding historical mystery that explores the glittering yet shadowy world of high-end jewelry, the rise and fall of a family empire, and the complex bond between a father and daughter.
"Spellbinding ... The author unearths the story with a journalist's doggedness and a novelist's flair for detail, bravely seeking answers to childhood mysteries many would leave unsolved. This is riveting." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"As Kutchinsky painstakingly unwinds this generational and globe-spanning story—full of twists, betrayals and startling events—her prose sparkles like the diamond-studded objet d'art at the center of it all ... Like The Orchid Thief and The Feather Thief, Kutchinky's Egg is a glittering insider's look at a tragically consuming obsession." —BookPage (starred review)
"Uncovered feuds, betrayals, hatreds, and unlikely alliances ... [come together in this] engaging tale of a doomed quest." —Kirkus Reviews
"A heady mix of intimate family memoir, refugee history, and exploration of the gilded world of fine jewellery, Kutchinsky's Egg is a thrilling read. At its heart, is a daughter's bold and extraordinary quest to understand her father. This is a mesmerising tale, beautifully told. I could not put it down." —Ariana Neumann, New York Times bestselling author of When Time Stopped
"This book sparkles with pride, passion, love, family, heritage, greed, and mystery. Just like its subject, it's a gem." —Oliver Bullough, author of Butler to the World and Moneyland
This information about Kutchinsky's Egg was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Serena Kutchinsky is an award-winning journalist known for her creative flair and commitment to uncovering stories that might otherwise remain buried. She is currently head of news at The i Paper, and has previously worked at Sky News, BBC News, and Newsweek. A seasoned public speaker, she hosts talks at leading music and book festivals and serves as a judge for several media awards. She lives in London with her husband and two children, and curates an Instagram account exploring the legacy of the House of Kutchinsky. Kutchinsky's Egg is her first book.
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