Serena Kutchinsky – författare

‘Extraordinary’ SOPHIE ELMHIRST, author of Maurice and Maralyn‘Sparkles with passion, greed and mystery’ OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of Butler to the World ‘Spellbinding . . . Primed to seduce just about anybody’ LAURA MILLER, Slate‘A jewel of a thriller’ CAROL WOOLTON, author of If Jewels Could Talk‘A wild and fascinating trip’ OCTAVIA BUTLER, author of This Ragged GraceWhen she was ten years old, Serena Kutchinsky’s father Paul was consumed by a wild dream. Heir to the legendary jewellery company House of Kutchinsky, he longed to create a jewelled egg more beautiful than any of Fabergé’s masterpieces. It would be the largest and most spectacular in the world.Standing two feet tall, made of solid gold, dripping with rare pink diamonds and housing a tiny enamelled library, the egg was astonishing. But when he failed to sell it, everything started to unravel. The House of Kutchinsky collapsed, Paul’s marriage fell apart, and within ten years he was dead. The egg was seized by its creditors and disappeared without trace.For thirty years its location remained a mystery, until it began to obsess Serena, too. Why did her father risk everything for this outlandish creation, and where in the world was it – valued by now at £30 million? Intent on finding answers, she traces a story that begins in London’s East End, with the arrival of her great-great grandparents as Polish-Jewish immigrants, and takes her to the other end of the world. It’s a journey that transforms her understanding of her father, her childhood and herself.‘A brightly painted tale, with everything you could want from a book about a dynasty of jewellers’SUNDAY TIMES

‘Extraordinary’ SOPHIE ELMHIRST, author of Maurice and Maralyn‘Sparkles with passion, greed and mystery’ OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of Butler to the World ‘Spellbinding’ LAURA MILLER, Slate‘A jewel of a thriller’ CAROL WOOLTON, author of If Jewels Could TalkWhen she was ten years old, Serena Kutchinsky’s father Paul was consumed by a wild dream. Heir to the legendary jewellery company House of Kutchinsky, he longed to create a jewelled egg more beautiful than any of Fabergé’s masterpieces. It would be the largest and most spectacular in the world.Standing two feet tall, made of solid gold, dripping with rare pink diamonds and housing a tiny enamelled library, the egg was astonishing. But when he failed to sell it, everything started to unravel. The House of Kutchinsky collapsed, Paul’s marriage fell apart, and within ten years he was dead. The egg was seized by its creditors and disappeared without trace.For thirty years its location remained a mystery, until it began to obsess Serena, too. Why did her father risk everything for this outlandish creation, and where in the world was it – valued by now at £30 million? Intent on finding answers, she traces a story that begins in London’s East End, with the arrival of her great-great grandparents as Polish-Jewish immigrants, and takes her to the other end of the world. It’s a journey that transforms her understanding of her father, her childhood and herself.‘A brightly painted tale, with everything you could want from a book about a dynasty of jewellers’ SUNDAY TIMES

Extraordinary SOPHIE ELMHIRST, author of Maurice and MaralynSparkles with passion, greed and mystery OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of Butler to the World Spellbinding LAURA MILLER, SlateA jewel of a thriller CAROL WOOLTON, author of If Jewels Could TalkWhen she was ten years old, Serena Kutchinskys father Paul was consumed by a wild dream. Heir to the legendary jewellery company House of Kutchinsky, he longed to create a jewelled egg more beautiful than any of Fabergs masterpieces. It would be the largest and most spectacular in the world.Standing two feet tall, made of solid gold, dripping with rare pink diamonds and housing a tiny enamelled library, the egg was astonishing. But when he failed to sell it, everything started to unravel. The House of Kutchinsky collapsed, Pauls marriage fell apart, and within ten years he was dead. The egg was seized by its creditors and disappeared without trace.For thirty years its location remained a mystery, until it began to obsess Serena, too. Why did her father risk everything for this outlandish creation, and where in the world was it valued by now at 30 million? Intent on finding answers, she traces a story that begins in Londons East End, with the arrival of her great-great grandparents as Polish-Jewish immigrants, and takes her to the other end of the world. Its a journey that transforms her understanding of her father, her childhood and herself.A brightly painted tale, with everything you could want from a book about a dynasty of jewellers SUNDAY TIMES

‘Extraordinary’ SOPHIE ELMHIRST, author of Maurice and Maralyn‘Sparkles with passion, greed and mystery’ OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of Butler to the World ‘Spellbinding’ LAURA MILLER, Slate‘A jewel of a thriller’ CAROL WOOLTON, author of If Jewels Could TalkWhen she was ten years old, Serena Kutchinsky’s father Paul was consumed by a wild dream. Heir to the legendary jewellery company House of Kutchinsky, he longed to create a jewelled egg more beautiful than any of Fabergé’s masterpieces. It would be the largest and most spectacular in the world.Standing two feet tall, made of solid gold, dripping with rare pink diamonds and housing a tiny enamelled library, the egg was astonishing. But when he failed to sell it, everything started to unravel. The House of Kutchinsky collapsed, Paul’s marriage fell apart, and within ten years he was dead. The egg was seized by its creditors and disappeared without trace.For thirty years its location remained a mystery, until it began to obsess Serena, too. Why did her father risk everything for this outlandish creation, and where in the world was it – valued by now at £30 million? Intent on finding answers, she traces a story that begins in London’s East End, with the arrival of her great-great grandparents as Polish-Jewish immigrants, and takes her to the other end of the world. It’s a journey that transforms her understanding of her father, her childhood and herself.‘A brightly painted tale, with everything you could want from a book about a dynasty of jewellers’ SUNDAY TIMES

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 completely. Her father Paul, who owned the high-end jewelry company the House of Kutchinsky, set out to build the world’s largest jeweled egg—one to rival Fabergé’s creations. He succeeded, but at a ruinous price. When the Argyle Library Egg was unveiled, it was astonishing: it stood 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 creditors and disappeared without a trace. For thirty-five years its location has been unknown. Over time the mystery of the egg began to eat away at Serena. Why did her father risk everything for the pursuit of this outlandish dream? And where in the world was his decadent, ill-fated creation, valued by some modern estimates at £100 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 delves into 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.