AustLit

'Why would someone bury a bucket of precious jewels and gemstones and never return?

'From the author of The Jade Lily comes a thrilling modern-day treasure hunt brimming with family secrets.

'In the summer of 1912, a workman's pickaxe strikes through the basement floor of an old tenement house in Cheapside, London, uncovering a cache of unimaginably valuable treasure that quickly disappears again.

'Present day. When respected jewellery historian, Kate Kirby, receives a call about the Cheapside jewels, she knows she's on the brink of the experience of a lifetime.

'As Kate peels back the layers of London's stories of plague, fire and political turmoil, she is forced to explore long-buried family secrets. Secrets concerning Essie, her great-grandmother, and her life in Edwardian London. Soon, Kate's past and present threaten to collide and the truths about her family lie waiting to be revealed.

'Inspired by a true story, The Lost Jewels unfolds an incredible story of mystery, thievery, sacrifice and hope through the generations of one family.' (Publication summary)

'In 2016, fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm, when her grandfather is dying. With only weeks left together, her grandparents begin to reveal the family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century.

'In 1939, two young girls meet in Shanghai, the 'Paris of the East': beautiful local Li and Viennese refugee Romy form a fierce friendship. But the deepening shadows of World War Two fall over the women as Li and Romy slip between the city's glamorous French Concession and the desperate Shanghai Ghetto. Eventually, they are forced separate ways as Romy doubts Li's loyalties.

'After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her grandparents' past. As she peels back the layers of their hidden lives, she begins to question everything she knows about her family - and herself. ' (Publication Summary)