The Golden Apple of Samarkand

A tumultuous riches-to-rags family history spanning four continents and three centuries. Lala plays with her diamond ring, mesmerized as always by thoughts of the jewel's extraordinary journey from Tsarist Russia to twenty-first-century England. An unexpected invitation has arrived and, at last, she will be able to visit Lentvaris, her paternal grandmother's ancestral home, a splendid East European estate where princely art collections, spectacular jewelry, and extravagant balls once coexisted with grand philanthropy and a deep sense of noblesse oblige. World War I changed everything, altering the family's privileged lives forever. Lala's great uncle was forced to flee with the last of the Romanov dynasty and her great grandfather auctioned off his art treasures. World War II saw Lentvaris lost forever. Lala's grandfather died in a Soviet gulag. Her grandmother, aunt, and father survived harsh imprisonment and eventually found precarious stability as émigrés in South America. This is an epic story of dramatic escapes, concealed treasures, and a lost paradise, but especially of the courage and resilience shown by the women of Lala's family, and of the immense power of love, humor, and hope.