Kutchinsky's Egg

A gorgeous, heart-stopping memoir about the author’s search for the object 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 jewellery company the House of Kutchinsky, was seized by a wild idea. He wanted to build the world’s largest jewelled egg to rival any of Fabergé’s. The ambition consumed him. When the Argyle Library Egg was unveiled, it was astonishing: it stood two feet tall, made of solid gold and dripping with pink diamonds. The problem was: nobody would buy it. Just like that, Paul lost everything. 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 its creditors and disappeared without 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 this invaluable object, valued by some modern estimates at £100 million? Desperate for answers, she set out to find her father’s decadent, ill-fated creation. It is a journey that 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. Kutchinsky’s Egg is a stunning story of obsession and lost glamour, fathers and daughters, for readers of The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal.

Autorentext

Serena Kutchinsky is an award-winning journalist who has held senior editorial roles at Sky News, BBC News, the Sunday Times and Newsweek. She is now Head of News at the i Paper, where she oversees reporting at the intersection of politics, society and power. A seasoned public speaker, she regularly hosts festival panels and serves as a judge for leading media awards. She lives in London with her husband and two children, and curates an Instagram account devoted to the legacy of the House of Kutchinsky. Kutchinsky's Egg is her first book.

Klappentext

'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 Grace

When 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