This dual timeline novel is a fictional account of the story behind the Cheapside Horde found in London in 1912. Essie was in London at the time the jewels were discovered. Her great-granddaughter, Kate, the present day protagonist, is researching their history.

The novel was well-written and researched. The story lines provided a believable and entertaining fictional history to the mysterious horde. It spanned 400 years during which time rough stones were discovered, transported, set into jewelry, owned, gifted, hidden, eventually discovered by workmen, and ultimately studied. All of this detail flowed together taking the reader through the life cycle of one specific piece of jewelry. However, the various timelines never became overwhelming or confusing.

Kate also discovers the truth about her great-grandmother's reasons for leaving England. Researching the Cheapside Horde is the vehicle which inspires Kate on a journey through her own family's past.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the details of a jewelry historian was interesting, I liked learning about that occupation. I liked how everything tied together and how the main character learned a lot about her family history through jewels and tracking them. I liked both timelines as well. Really good!

The Lost Jewels is a true story about all exciting things,jewels,family,secrets money and surpises.. Follow the trail from today to the last I the history of the jewels,where did they ideal to,who they belong to! Characters are so wonderful believable and you will come to know them all. Received this from Net Gallery to read and review! It's a very much of a read! Wait til you find out the surprise.. Such a historical story to read!

This is the best kind of historical fiction, as it is based on actual little known events. In 1912, Essie comes across jewels that have been abandoned and then they disappear! In the present day, Kate is a jewelry historian that receives a call about the jewels. She begins on a journey that she couldn't have predicted. The author did a great job of weaving the past and present together in her writing. This was an enjoyable read!

Inspired by the true stories of “The Cheapside Hoard”, a large collection of expensive jewelry that was unearthed in 1912. Its great fodder for historical fiction because so little is known about it. Dr. Kate Kirby is sent to do a feature article on the Cheapside Hoard. It moves back and forth in time from the 1600’s to the present. As Kate is researching the jewels she discovers a personal connection to her great grandmother who emigrated to the US. Well-done and worth reading.

The Lost Jewels is an intriguing book that is difficult to categorize but definitely keeps you reading until the end. Manning combines a split narrative that tells the rags to riches story of Essie while also telling the story of Essie's great-granddaughter who is an art historian specializing in jewelry. While pursuing her latest research project on the Cheapside jewels, Kate soon finds herself in the middle of researching her own family history which has numerous twists and turns. Beyond these two main narratives, numerous other historical sidelines are intertwined with the story as the history of the specific jewels unfolds as well.

Manning does a spectacular job of weaving all of the various plots and sub-plots together into a cohesive story. While readers may ferret out some of the mysteries along the way, Manning does a great job of keeping the story wrapped up until the big reveal. Enough mystery to keep you reading, a little romance thrown in, and strong female protaganists in both the modern and historical stories. A thoroughly enjoyable book!

Historical Fiction is a genre I am finding myself reading more of. I love learning about history and even though this is fiction, it is inspired by the Cheapside Jewels discovered in 1912 and it made me look up the real jewels to learn a little more about them.

The story of the Jewels was set in three different time periods and I enjoyed each one. They complemented each other very well. As something was discovered in the present, it was explained in the past and vice versa. I was happy to see this was not just about the jewels but about family, loss, poverty, and even a little bit of romance. It made the jewels seem so much more personable this way. I really enjoyed the 1912 timeline as it the center of the story to me. It became wanting to know more about Essie and her sister and the struggles they were going through being intertwined with the jewels.

I wish Kate’s past was explained a little bit more. It mentioned a couple things that happened to her but never went farther into it and I connected so well with her family story I thought that would have added more to it.

The Jewels were truly the center of the story, but it was told in a beautiful way. If you are a fan of Historical Fiction, I recommend checking this out!

Thank you to Netgalley and William Marrow Paperbacks for the gifted copy.

This is one of those books that is split between several stories and then they all come back together at the end and the reader says, "Oh yes, now I get it!" This book followed a trove of jewels and the different people that were involved in the different pieces, but the main stories were the jewelry historian (who even knew that was a thing?) and her great grandmother.. Those are the stories that are the backbone of the book and is woven through the whole book. But the best part of this story is the ending--spoiler alert-- it is a happy ending for everyone.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Lost Jewels is a gem of a book, no pun intended. Inspired by the real-life mystery surrounding the unearthing of the Cheapside Hoard, Manning provides answers to the questions surrounding this mysterious cache of jewels through a masterful blend of fact and fiction.

The thing that stuck with me is how personal the story was, through the development of the main characters, Kate and Essie, and their relationship with one another. Kate loved her grandmother, but came to realize that her grandmother had secrets and a life before her that was key to connecting her grandmother with the Jewels.

Essie’s life in turn was conveyed poignantly, with her humble origins and how she felt she had to care for her large family. I especially loved her bond with her sister Gertie, and loved the way that relationship endured even after Essie left London.

I love how this story overall shows the powerful impact of jewels, in spite of the way they are commodified and dismissed as a result. As Manning notes in her endnotes, “the story of a jewel is always about power, love, and loyalty,” (P.S., 4) a concept that certainly resonates throughout the book.

This book is absolutely stunning, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction.

The Lost Jewels has a great balance of well-researched history and fictionalization brought by Kirsty Manning - the author is very creative in weaving together these elements. There was just enough truth to the history that ties the points-of-view and timelines together, while also drawing interesting connections amongst the main characters, Essie, who we follow in 1912 London, and Kate, in present day Boston. I knew very little about the Cheapside hoard prior to reading The Lost Jewels, but I found myself wanting to find out more - Manning gives a bunch of recommendations in her authors note. I was most drawn in to Essie's story of family and love, as well as her journey through and from London. Kate's perspective was interesting in that I learned a bit more about the history of gemstones, but her personal storyline wasn't as compelling and probably could have benefited from more depth or detail.

I was really looking forward to THE LOST JEWELS. I was drawn in by the title, the premise, and of course that gorgeous cover... And I'm a big fan of historical fiction and stories with multiple timelines. However, sadly, THE LOST JEWELS ultimately fell flat for me. My primary complaint is that I didn't feel a connection with the characters, in part because of all the back and forth between timelines. The narrative also felt uneven; the present day story seemed a somewhat flimsy vehicle for the 1912 story. I didn't buy into Kate's interest in "turning in" her grandmother if she discovered she was a thief. Also, I didn't like how Kate looked to a man/ romance to "rescue" her. She was otherwise a strong, independent woman and I would've liked her to stay that way. I kept waiting for the story to improve and to feel more invested in the characters, but by the end I felt only disappointment. On the bright side, Manning's descriptions of time and place are lovely and I enjoyed reading about the jewels and their interesting history.

The Lost Jewels, by Kirsty Manning, was based on the accounts of the Cheapside Hoard. The story is written using a then and now format. The "then" starts back with the discovery of the jewels, in India, 1630. We follow the trail of these treasures through generations of smuggling, falling into the hands of a London goldsmith, and to their recent discovery during a construction dig, 1912, Finally, the mystery begins. Who would hide these precious gems and why did they not return to them?

The "now" is about a jewel historian, Kate, and her call to write an article about the jewels. Kate jumps at this opportunity and soon her adventure begins. In a dual story timeline, we are introduced to Kate's grandmother Essie, growing up in the early 1900's, London. Yes, there is a connection forming here.

The facts, based around the history of the jewels and their passages to modern-day, were plentiful. The author painted many historical settings, vividly portrayed and immersively inviting. The character of Kate and her modern-day colleagues did not hold my attention so much as that of her grandmother and the history of the earlier times. There is a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, plenty of touching human emotion, and loads of interesting and factual events concerning these valuable jewels.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my personal thoughts and opinions.

#thelostjewels #netgallely

At a London building site in 1912, a group of workmen unearth a bucket of priceless jewels that had been buried in a cellar. Who would have buried the priceless pieces and then never returned for them? When the jewels are scheduled to be put on public display for the first time at the Museum of London, historian Dr. Kate Kirby is assigned to cover the exclusive story for an American magazine. But as she digs into the history of the jewels, her research takes her from London to India to Sri Lanka to Paris and back again. Along the way, she discovers an unexpected link to her own family’s history, beginning with a sketch of one of the jewels that she finds in her great-grandmother’s files in Boston.

Based on the discovery of the Cheapside Hoard, a collection of over 400 pieces of Elizabethan and Stuart jewelry, this cache of jewels have fascinated experts and the public alike. It is believed that the building where the jewels were found were the premises of a London jeweler, and that the jewels were buried for safekeeping either during the English Civil War or the Great London Fire. There are many incredible pieces in the collection, including an emerald large enough to have a watch set into it, cameos carved from amethysts and sapphires, and carved buttons set with precious stones, and there may have been more pieces that were taken by the workmen and pawned or sold. The majority of the collection is owned by the Museum of London and is not currently on display. They are building a gallery specifically to house the collection that is expected to open in 2024.

As with so many stories that move from the present day to the past, the 21st century part of the story is far less compelling than the parts set in the 17th and early 20th century. There is an awful lot of romance in the modern story: a woman who has been devastated by a tragedy is saved from despair by a gorgeous guy who turns out to have unexpected depths (gag me), and they live happily ever after. I found myself skimming over the modern story to get back to Essie’s story in 1912. It would have been refreshing to have Kate be an independent professional woman doing her job and researching a family story at the same time, and not needing to be rescued by a man. The story also has some disjointed parts, such as why Essie and Gertie are running away from London at one point, and then they are suddenly back at home. Maybe that was just an error in eARC and will get sorted out in the final publication.

I had not heard of the Cheapside Hoard before reading The Lost Jewels and it was a fun surprise to read in the acknowledgments about the real discovery. Kate is a thoughtful historian unsure whether to believe the tales her great-grandmother spun for her and her sister. In some family paperwork, Kate discovers a possible connection between her family and the Cheapside jewels. We are along for the ride, hopping back and forth between the centuries, following Essie & Kate's storylines, to discover the mystery behind the jewels, their connection to Essie, and the truths in her magical tales. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

The mystery and the change between time periods was very well done. I liked the overall story. While there was a romance, it wasn't the focus and it didn't distract from the overall story. The connections through time with the jewels were fascinating. I loved the way the mystery was layered throughout the book.

This is a new author for me and I was drawn into the story right away, Looking at a story from the history of the jewels was new and interesting to me.

Content: This book had three scenes that were a bit warmer than I usually read and review. There was only one with an overt reference to sex, the other two cut away before the deed was done. There was nothing graphic, but I wanted readers to be able to make a choice regarding what was coming. None of these scenes distracted from the story, and one was relevant to the overall plot.

That being said, I enjoyed the story and the subject. It was a good read and I would recommend it to others looking for something in this genre.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Very interesting story of generations of a family, switching between the 1660s, the 1910s and present day. In present day, a woman is hired to track and write about jewels for a museum. In the 1660s, a jeweler fashions gems into lovely pieces and hides them for his family. In the 1910s, a bucket of jewels is found at an excavation site...

Poverty, to new beginnings, intertwined with the modern story of a great granddaughter. What stories do the family heirlooms hold? Secrets, scandals, and successes.

I'm a sucker for mysteries that involve jewels, and this one did not disappoint. The story is captivating and well-plotted, blending history and the present day in a way that keeps you turning pages.

I was unfamiliar with the "Cheapside Hoard" of jewelry unearthed in 1912 by workmen excavating a cellar in London. The author has taken that piece of history and woven a fascinating story about how those jewels ended up in that cellar, and what happened to some of them when unearthed. That history is blended with an emotional love story that spans decades.

Full of appealing characters, a cracking good mystery, and a solid dose of history, this will appeal to fans of Kate Morton, Elizabeth Lowell, and M.J. Rose.

There are elements of this novel that I really enjoyed. Obviously, the draw of gems, diamonds and beautiful jewels are what led to my requesting this title. I will always enjoy reading historical fiction especially any set in London. The best part of this story was the brief snippets of historical lineage of the jewels themselves. I found that to be a very inspired element to the plot. I did enjoy Essie and the story of her life. What it really comes down to it is the present day story time. I found it to be lacking and only wanted to be lost in the past. While I am glad to have read it I will not remember very much in the coming weeks.

Jewels found in Cheapside, London tie multiple generations in this story of loss and recovery. Families are tied to the jewels, which provide a way back to life for the main characters.