The Jewels of Tessa Kent

by Judith Krantz

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For the first time Judith Krantz has chosen to tell a story rooted in the shattering emotions of a mother-daughter relationship gone desperately wrong. The story unfolds on a classic Krantz background, a magic carpet of gorgeous entertainment and sumptuous events. Yet, at its core, The Jewels of Tessa Kent is an engrossing, deeply moving, and ultimately inspiring tale of two women bound by blood yet torn apart by their deepest emotions.

Tessa Kent, an exquisite and precocious fourteen, gives birth to an illegitimate daughter. Her parents, devout Catholics, raise the infant, Maggie, as their own child. At sixteen Tessa is discovered by Hollywood; by nineteen she's an international movie star. Maggie lives for her glorious "sister's" infrequent whirlwind visits. Maggie is a captivating, independent eighteen when she accidentally learns the truth. Mortally wounded, she breaks all ties with Tessa and starts to work at the famed Manhattan auction house of Scott & Scott.

Five years later, a life-altering crisis makes Tessa passionately determined to end this estrangement. An auction is the only way she can find to reach her daughter, an auction of the immensely valuable collection of famed jewels that represent all the love 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. For Tessa, her entire future now hangs on the hope of an almost impossible reconciliation.

The Jewels of Tessa Kent deals with the fascinating workings of an auction house; it's a revealing look at the inside of Hollywood stardom; but more than anything else, it's a story of feelings and family, of loss, mistakes, joy and redemption.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Adult

561 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1998

About the author

Judith Krantz was an American author of blockbuster romance novels including her first novel Scruples followed by Princess Daisy. Krantz's books have been translated into 52 languages and sold more than 85 million copies worldwide. Seven have been adapted as TV miniseries, with her late husband, Steve Krantz.

Reviews

[Diane (IF U'RE PRIVATE, PLEASE SKIP ME!!!) Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! very mysterious story with multifaceted,interesting,loving and likable characters that was also very good from the first page to the ending..well written (paperback!)

[Um Blog entre Bibliotecas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Está aqui uma história bonita, muito bem escrita, carregada de drama, que se lê de uma assentada, e nos absorve na sua narrativa, sendo que me fez esquecer dos meus próprios dramas enquanto a leitura durou, tal foi a forma que me cativou!

Opinião completa no blog: www.umblogentrebibliotecas.pt/2020/02...

[Carina Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sinceramente não consigo explicar o porquê de ter gostado tanto deste livro 🤔. Talvez seja porque está tão bem escrito que nem damos pelas páginas passarem. Os sentimentos estão muito bem narrados que seria impossível não nos revermos em alguns. A vida pode ser curta, ninguém sabe, por isso que seja vivida da melhor forma possível. Das expressões que mais detesto ouvir é “temos tempo”... sabemos lá que tempo temos ...

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha sido una lectura un poco extraña para mí, pero también muy absorbente; la he disfrutado mucho. No sabía qué esperar porque no había leído nada de esta autora, pero me envolvió casi de inmediato con su estilo tan sencillo y cercano. Pienso que es una novela muy de su tiempo, de la época en que fue escrita y que es importante considerarlo porque hay actitudes en los personajes que quizá en la actualidad resultarían fuera de lugar. Tess me conmovió un montón pese a que hubo momentos en que quería matarla, y lo mismo con varios otros personajes, lo que en realidad los hace muy humanos, algo que creo que se debe resaltar de esta historia en la que ocurren tantas cosas, muchas de ellas producto de errores y omisiones que terminan por lastimar a medio mundo. Por otra parte, y ese es un tema muy personal, no siento que se trate de una novela romántica sino el viaje de una mujer que ama, sufre, y pierde debido a sus circunstancias y sus propios actos; una vida intensa en la que he disfrutado acompañarla. Espero repetir con otro libro de la autora pronto.

[Julay · Rating 2 out of 5]

C'était sans doute le genre de roman très à la mode dans les années 80, mais c'est prodigieusement chiant

[Adelaide Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma história carregada de drama e glamour, mas acima de tudo uma história sobre laços familiares

[Linsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an, all around, great book. Starting off with a 14-year-old Catholic school girl accidentally getting pregnant, truly an accident due to her evident lack of sex education, Teresa Horvath, better known as Tessa Kent sets fire to a quite glamorous life shortly after the birth of “her” baby. Or is it so glamorous, with a lie that lasts 18 years, only accidentally and unintentionally being revealed? Tessa’s parents are quite the serious, all-round Catholics who absolutely follow all parts of their strict faith, including when their 14-year old becomes pregnant. Abortion is absolutely not an option, but Tessa also cannot raise her own child. Her parents, intending to protect Tessa’s reputation, make a move to a different city and make Tessa stay inside, in hiding, until Mary Margaret is born. Upon her birth, young Maggie is claimed as the child of Sandor and Anges, Tessa’s parents. Maggie grows up believing that Tessa is her older sister. Though the lie originally is created by Sandor and Agnes, Tessa keep it well and alive, even after her parents die when Maggie is 5-years-old. Even then, Tessa chooses not to raise her own child and keeps the nasty secret; Maggie doesn’t find out until she is 18, straining the relationship immensely. The two don’t see each other again for five years, when Tessa, a movie star who got her big break at age 16, decides to sell her multi-million dollar jewelery collection at the auction house that Maggie works at. The only stipulation is that Maggie must work on the sale. And the auction house wants the deal, because it will bring in an immense amount of money. Will Maggie participate? Will the tarnished relationship heal?
This novel brings in topics of devout Catholicism, serious medical issues, the movie star lifestyle, and relationships. Not only does the relationship between Tessa and Maggie come to the forefront, but all of Tessa and Maggie’s separate friend and family relationships do, as well. I love this book so much because it brings a major conflict of a painful secret together with many other multi-faceted intriguing elements.
I highly recommend this book.

[Nataliec7 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The first that I have read from Krantz but won't be the last.

Teresa a young catholic girl falls pregnant after a little episode with a boy at a party. She is 14 years old. Her parents decide to move away and keep Teresa at home during the pregnancy. They then raise the baby as their own and Teresa can continue being young. Teresa then gets the part of Jo in Little women and then goes on to be an international star. She fully accepts that Maggie is her sister and not her child. She meets and falls in love with Luke who is a millionaire and they get married. 5 days later both parents are killed in a car accident and Maggie is left and orphan. But even though Teresa is her mother, she doesn't take her in!! The book makes you want the family to reconnect, you are willing for the truth to come out and everyone to just make up. It is a little predictable and the end certainly seems rushed. But that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying it.

[Maneden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. Soul. This is a fantastic book! It really makes you question the worth of holding grudges and opportunities lost. So hard to put down once you get into it. I did find that the end of the book seemed to be somewhat rushed while other sections followed too much detail, but that is purely a reader's preference.

The story is very involved and it is refreshing to follow the entire life of the character instead of just popping in for a glimpse of a few years or events. Knowing and understanding the thoughts and decisions and then seeing the long-term effects of those decisions is very rewarding. Definitely a fireside book!!

[F. O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like each Judith Krantz novel better than the last. Yes, 4 stars is kind of an extravagant rating for a mostly superficial romance novel, but this book won serious points when Tessa got her big break when she starred as Jo in Little Women. <3 <3 <3

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, but a very unsatisfying ending.

[Jill Tool · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Judith Krantz’s finest books! Like many of her books, this one didn’t disappoint in the least. The characters were well developed, the plot was good, the story moved along at a nice pace, it was entertaining, and an overall great read. Please be aware, this is MY review of the book, it’s what I thought was good, we all don’t have the same taste in books, and that’s fine. I happened to really enjoy reading this book.
Tessa becomes pregnant in her teens; her parents have decided to move away until the baby is born to hid the shame of what their daughter has done. When Tessa has the baby, her parents take the child and raise it as their own.
Tessa goes on and becomes a famous movie star, with leading parts one after the other. Maggie Tessa’s sister finds out that Tessa isn’t really her sister but her mother. Like any child that finds out shocking news as sorts, Maggie wants nothing more to do with Tessa. Until one day Tessa receives some news, and now she decides to sell her jewels, she needs Maggie more than ever to help her with this, and hopefully mend some broken fences.
This book takes you from childhood of Tessa all the way through her life, that is brought before you as if you’re watching her journey right before your eyes.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't read it when it first came out, but decided to read it now. It's the standard Judith Krantz/Barbara Taylor Bradford genre of potboiler romance. Everyone in the book is beautiful and perfect and your basic MarySue/GaryStu characters. Nothing truly interesting about any of them.

The plot is okay, but there's a lot of coincidents that are too neatly packaged...Tessa gets preggers and gives birth to a daughter that is then passed off as her parents' daughter. She meets a guy in one night and decides within a week to marry him. Pretty much the unwed pregnancy is kept under wraps and no one ever realizes that Maggie is Tessa's daughter, except for Mimi, Tessa's friend. Everything moved along at a pretty fast clip and there was not much in the way of insight or development. Even the sex is pretty bland and the usual romance descriptors apply.

So it wasn't one of Krantz's best books, but I finished it because I wanted to see how it ended.

[Emily Mobley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings on this book. I love a good story about Hollywood and the world of elite rich people. So a book about an actress with a huge jewel collection she wakes to auction off was interesting.

However, the characters just felt blah. It seemed like the women only thought about themselves in terms of looks and relationships to men. Men were only there to give the women meaning. None of the relationships had any build, they were all just immediate obsession, which felt like lazy writing.

While I enjoyed reading the character’s inner thoughts to themselves, the dialogue was just awful and unrealistic. The pacing was good, but it felt like characters were killer off suddenly without any warning just to speed up the plot.

I know the book was written in the late 90s, and it definitely gave off those vibes. I think I’d rather read something more contemporary, but I picked this up at a secondhand book sale, and it was an alright, quick read.

[Marta Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este livro é um romance cheio de glamour e que nos dá a conhecer o brilho de Hollywood e o fantástico mundo das jóias e dos leilões, mas é acima de tudo uma história que aborda os laços familiares.
Neste livro ficámos a conhecer a Tessa, uma famosa atriz de Hollywood, uma personagem forte, apaixonada e batalhadora, que ao receber uma terrível notícia sobre a sua saúde decide fazer tudo por tudo para reconquistar o amor e a confiança de Maggie, a sua filha, mas que todos pensam que é a sua irmã, mas que teve de manter esse segredo para que a sua carreira e depois o seu casamento não terminassem.
Adorei conhecer a escrita desta autora e espero que em breve possam ser publicados mais obras suas.

[Jill Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teresa Horvath was a talented actress even in her school days, so it was no surprise when she was recognised as something special at her first Hollywood audition. But Teresa, or Tessa Kent, as she becomes, has a dark secret, a secret in which her parents contrived to support her. As the years go by, and Tessa is an international success, her secret becomes harder and harder to divulge. When the truth finally comes out, it is disastrous for the people involved. Can relationships ever be mended?
This is a story about relationships, but apart from the title character and one other, none of the supporting characters have much depth.

[Flowergarden24 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be just something to pass the time on an airplane. It wasn't exciting and some of it was ridiculous. Who has one dinner with a guy and the next day he flys to another country to buy an engagement ring? Meanwhile the girl thinks it was a one night stand, decides she hates him, he returns and she says aw shucks, okay let's get married. They know nothing about each other but they are madly in love. The sex scenes were detailed, drawn out and melodramatic for no reason and became laughable. Reactions to discoveries about who's who was not believable.

[Charlotte_loves_books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I killed a day reading this book while waiting for a boyfriend to arrive while I was at uni 20 years ago. I remember loving the book although it might have been that I was happy to have my mind occupied. This is not the usual kind of book I read nowadays and it is only a small step up from Jackie Collins but it was light hearted and something to balance out A Promised Land which I am also reading at the moment. I am not going to be recommending this one to every man and his dog but it has its place.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out really liking this book, and ended really liking it. That is why I gave it 4 stars. Somewhere in the middle, I was not enjoying it. It seemed that the story line stagnated somewhat and the author chose to fill that section with very descriptive, detailed, sexual encounters that I did not care to read. I did quite a bit of skimming at that time. Other than that, I found it a good story filled with a variety of human emotions, family dynamics, how different people deal with losses, and a beautiful story of a redeemed relationship between a mother and daughter.

[Lorrie Dewar]

Loved this! So many twists turns and side stories make this a great book to read. Tessa becomes a mother at 14, but to save face, her deeply religious parents take the baby and claim it is Tess's sister. Tessa goes on to lead a fabulous life as a movie star. She also become a jewelry collector seeking large, garish gemstones. As time goes on, she is met with tragedy, finally meeting up with her daughter. One drama leads to another with an ending that knocked my socks off. Definitely a must read

[Abby MacMillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually ended up liking this book a lot more than I initially expected to. I know as prepared for a blah Hollywood star drama but I grew to really love Tessa's character and her relationship with Maggie was at times heart-wrenching and had you rooting for them to reconcile. I'll chalk this up to an unexpected great read. Good for a summer beach read.. not a super heavy thriller or drama but not as fluffy as a romance novel.. just right!

[Krystina Schuler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slow moving book that didn't really get going until the last third. Most of the characters were pretty awful people, who didn't change by the end of it, which made it difficult for me to get invested. They seemed rather odious and never evolved to be less odious. Some characters were introduced and then disappeared. It was an OK read, but not riveting. It was easy to put down to do other things.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 really.
I enjoyed it.
It was definitely all-out drama that I pertain to housewife beach reads but things were full of twists that I was like "oh shit" and I liked the dialogue, plus how upfront the author was about sex, the character's feelings, and the presence of queer characters.
I picked this off the goodwill shelves and was riding the high of another book's mother-daughter relationship. Glad I got this book. Nice to ruminate on later.

[Cristiana Teixeira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy to read and has a quick enough pace. The writing is sufferable, the story nice enough, but the characters were unlikable and ridiculous. I also found that the quality went very downhill in the last 50 pages, maybe even the writer was bored with the characters created and wanted to get it over with. The end was suppose to be emotional (I'm guessing), but since I didn't care, it just did nothing for me. 2 stars because it was so easy to read that I actually finished it very quickly.

[Hannah Oud-Biemold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het verhaal is totaal ongeloofwaardig en de karakters zijn zo dun als papier, maar toch houd ik ook van dit soort boeken. Ik heb meerdere boeken van Judith Krantz gelezen en ze zijn fantastisch om uren achter elkaar door te lezen en te verdwijnen in een wereld vol glamour. Het irritante is dat de vrouwen bijna allemaal een sterke man nodig hebben en zich daar meteen aan overgeven, maar ja dat hoort bij dit genre.

[Vassiliadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Είναι αστείο για μένα μια γυναίκα να καθορίζει την αξία της από τα κοσμήματα της. Για τον λόγο αυτό δεν πήρα και πολύ στα σοβαρά αυτό το βιβλίο, που σφύζει από υπερβολές. Στο τέλος όλοι μένουν ευχαριστημένοι και πλούσιοι. Η καταφερτζου και ναρκισσιστρια πρωταγωνίστρια, που μένει έγκυος με παρθενογένεση, σε καμία περίπτωση δεν με έπεισε για το μητρικό της φίλτρο. Εννοείται ότι διαγωνίως διάβασα τις σελίδες κατά τις οποίες περιγράφονται τα μαργαριτάρια. Ως χαλαρωτικό ανάγνωσμα ήταν καλό.

[Allison13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been years since I've read anything by Judith Frantz so when this one popped up, I downloaded it immediately. A great read, good as anything she wrote from back in the day. Likeable characters, except for a few, and a plot that stayed interesting until a very poignant ending. I also learned a lot about auctions.

[Marcia Haskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little slow to read, I’m no quite sure why it seemed to drag at times, maybe because the characters didn’t seem relatable. The story was interesting and the progression from teen to middle age was understandable. The stages of personal and work life was the reason I kept reading this book.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a little slow to read, I’m no quite sure why it seemed to drag at times, maybe because the characters didn’t seem relatable. The story was interesting and the progression from teen to middle age was understandable. The stages of personal and work life was the reason I kept reading this book.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is literally the worst book I've ever read. So dramatic and over the top in the worst ways possible while having basically zero plotline. I remember reading this when I was 16 and thinking it was sooo intricate, haha. It's just convoluted. The dialogue is not realistic at all. People don't speak like this at all with several paragraphs of non-stop nonsense.