The Jewels of Tessa Kent by Judith Krantz

Description

Bibliographic Details

• Author: Judith Krantz
• Title: The Jewels of Tessa Kent
• Publisher: ‎ Crown Publishers, Inc.; First Edition (October 27, 1998)
• Language: ‎ English
• Format: Hardcover – 389 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 0609603094
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0609603093
• Item Weight: ‎ 1.65 pounds
• Dimensions: ‎ 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
• Book Condition: Used – Very Good (may show minimal markings inside front cover)
• Dust Jacket Condition: Excellent
• Edition: First Edition

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 the Author:

Judith Krantz (née Tarcher; January 9, 1928 – June 22, 2019) was a magazine writer and fashion editor who turned to fiction as she approached the age of 50.

Her first novel Scruples (1978) quickly became a New York Times best-seller and went on to be a worldwide publishing success, translated into 50 languages. Scruples, which describes the glamorous and affluent world of high fashion in Beverly Hills, California, helped define a new supercharged sub-genre of the romance novel – the bonkbuster or "sex-and-shopping" novel.

She also fundamentally changed the publishing industry by becoming one of the first celebrity authors through her extensive touring and promotion – "a superstar of fiction". Her later books included Princess Daisy (1980), Till We Meet Again (1988), Dazzle (1990) and Spring Collection (1996). Her autobiography, Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl, was published in 2000.

Krantz served on the advisory board of Compassion & Choices, an organization dedicated to providing choices for the dying. In 2006, she joined the Board of the Los Angeles Music Center.

Krantz's husband, Steve Krantz, died in 2007 of pneumonia. The couple had two sons, Tony Krantz and Nicholas Krantz, both of whom reside in the Los Angeles area. Krantz was the sister-in-law of children's entertainer and television host Shari Lewis, who was married to Krantz's brother, Jeremy P. Tarcher, publisher of nonfiction books on health, psychology and New Age spirituality. Jeremy's daughter, Krantz's niece, is entertainer Mallory Lewis.

Krantz died on June 22, 2019, at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.