Kutchinsky's Egg - by Serena Kutchinsky (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"Luxury and obsession collide in this fascinating thriller as finely wrought as the Faberge-style egg masterpiece at its centre. Rich in details, sharp in suspense, and devastating in its revelations. Impossible to put down." --Carol Woolton, author of Vogue: The Jewellery

"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

"A memoir of fixations, big diamonds, big money, big ambitions, fur coats and grand houses, a pushy matriarch, love and loss, internecine melees, the rise and fall of a family of skilled and aesthetically incomparable Jewish jewellers in Britain. The writing is both intimate and dramatic. The storyteller confides in the reader as she unearths buried truths, secrets, and lies. Utterly brilliant." --Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, columnist for The i Paper and Evening Standard

About the Author

Serena Kutchinsky is an award-winning journalist who has held senior editorial roles at Sky News, BBC News, The Sunday Times (London), Prospect, and Newsweek. Currently head of news at The i Paper, she spends summer hosting talks at festivals and traveling around the countryside in a camper van. She lives in London with her husband and two children, and runs an Instagram account dedicated to the legacy of the House of Kutchinsky. Kutchinsky's Egg is her first book.