The Jewels of Tessa Kent: A Novel - Softcover

Krantz, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553561375 ISBN 13: 9780553561371

Publisher: Bantam, 1999

Synopsis

From the woman who brought us Scruples, Dazzle, and Spring Collection comes a provocative new novel, a deeply moving mother-daughter tale set amid the elegance of a famed New York auction house and the glamour of Hollywood.

A mother's secret...

Tessa Kent, exquisite and precocious, gave birth to an illegitimate daughter when she was only fourteen. Her parents raised the infant, Maggie, as their own child, as Tessa went on to become an international movie star. Maggie lives for her glamorous "sister's" infrequent whirlwind visits. But when she accidentally learns the truth, eighteen-year-old Maggie breaks all ties with Tessa and starts to work at the famed Manhattan auction house of Scott & Scott.

A daughter's fury...

Five years later, a life-altering crisis makes Tessa passionately determined to end this estrangement. There's only one way Tessa can reach out to her daughter: a high-stakes auction of the immensely valuable collection of famed jewels lavished on her by her late husband. Tessa promises Scott & Scott the auction on the condition that Maggie and she work closely together on the sale. Tessa's whole future hangs in the balance--for she knows her happiness depends on what may be an impossible reconciliation....

About this title

From the Publisher:

For years I've been resisting the temptation to read one of those blockbusters by Judith Krantz until finally, I couldn't wait any longer. And now I've just finished "The Jewels of Tessa Kent," Ms. Krantz's latest novel, and there's a tear in my eye (despite my effort at world-weary self-control) at the blissful star-crossed passion of it all.

But let me be frank. I feel jealous, yes jealous, at the ease with which Ms. Krantz seemed to spin out her tale of the ultra-glamorous, the ultra rich and the ultra-tragic. And I feel relief as well, relief that, at long last, I have relinquished, if only briefly, my claim on highbrow culture, and have experienced total immersion in sudsy, perfumed, tumescent melodrama.

"The Jewels of Tessa Kent" is a morality tale for our time that will be enjoyed by many millions. Despite my better judgement and my reckless, impetuous, larger-than-life effort not to, I enjoyed it myself.
--from The New York Times reviewed by Richard Bernstein 11/30/98

About the Author:

Since the publication of her first novel, Scruples, Judith Krantz has been one of the world's best-selling novelists. Born and raised in New York City and a graduate of Wellesley College, she and her husband, Steve Krantz, live in Bel Air and Newport Beach, California. They have two sons and two grandchildren.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0553561375
• ISBN 13: 9780553561371
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 468