Gregory & Company

Doust, Kelly

Precious Things

In the tradition of gloriously absorbing, lush and moving women’s fiction by authors such as Kate Morton and Joanne Harris comes Precious Things, which tells the story of a beautiful coronet and its journey through time in the hands of the women who created it, loved it, wore it and lost it – and the modern-day woman who can’t help but be enchanted by its past.

Maggie is working as a fine arts valuer at a leading auction house in London when she finds a crumpled, beaded item in a job lot. Intrigued, she decides to give it a new lease of life:

“Sequins caught the light and seemed to wink up at her, shining. It appeared to be a collar of some kind, the curved shape suggesting it was once the focal point of some fantastic, larger masterpiece. But held at another angle, it reminded her of a crown. No, that wasn’t right – it was more delicate than that. What was the word? Maggie wondered as it came to her. A coronet. Something a young woman would wear to a party, perhaps. Or as a bride.”

Life is busy for Maggie. She loves her work but it’s always a juggle finding time for her family. After an appearance on tv Maggie is visited by Francesca, who believes the coronet has something to do with her childhood, and sets out to discover more about its past…

Normandy, France in 1891: a young woman painstakingly sews the intricate beaded collar to her dead mother’s wedding dress, the night before her own wedding to someone she barely knows. Marriage feels like it’s closing around her like a trap, but Aimee longs for so much more…  

Shanghai, in 1926: dancing sensation Zephyr spies what looks like a beaded headpiece lying discarded on a ballroom floor. She takes it with her to Malaya where she sets her sights on a prize so out of reach that, in striving for it, she may just jeopardize everything she holds dear…

As Maggie realizes there is more to the coronet than meets the eye, she finds herself becoming seduced by its dark charms and those of Michael, the television producer who throws her life off-balance. Could the history of the coronet be more sinister than she thought? And what does this mean for Francesca and her mysterious past?

As the story of the coronet gains hold over her, Maggie wonders why it is that she can’t always get what she wants – not realising, of course, that sometimes life only gives you precisely the things that you need…

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