The Master Craftsman by Kelli Stuart

 

In 1917, Alma Pihl, a master craftsman in The House of FabergŽ, was charged to protect one of the greatest secrets in Russian history--an unknown FabergŽ Egg that Peter Karl FabergŽ secretly created to honor his divided allegiance to both the people of Russia and the Imperial Czar's family. When Alma and her husband escaped Russia for their native Finland in 1921, she took the secret with her, guarding her past connection to the Romanov family. 

Three generations later, world-renowned treasure hunter Nick Laine is sick and fears the secret of the missing egg will die with him. With time running out, he entrusts the mission of retrieving the egg to his estranged daughter, Ava, who has little idea of the dangers she is about to face. As the stakes are raised, Ava is forced to declare her own allegiance--and the consequences are greater than she could have imagined.

This modern-day treasure hunt from award-winning author Kelli Stuart transports you into the opulent and treacherous world of the Russian Revolution to unearth mysteries long buried.

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About The Author

 

Kelli Stuart is a writer and a storyteller at heart. A graduate of Baylor University with a degree in English Professional Writing, and a minor in the Russian language, Kelli has honed her skills in the written word through editing, ghostwriting, blogging, and traveling the world.

Kelli is the author of the Carol-award winning novel, Like a River From Its Course, based on true stories from Ukrainian World War II survivors. Her second novel, A Silver Willow by the Shore, was the NIEA winner for literary fiction and received the IPPY silver award for literary fiction in 2020.

Kelli's third book, The Fabulous Freaks of Monsieur Beaumont released in August, 2021. She will release her fourth novel, The Master Craftsman in April, 2022 with Revell books. In addition, Kelli is part of a collection of short stories in the Christmas release, It's a Wonderful Christmas: Classics Reimagined.

Kelli has co-authored the non-fiction books Dare 2B Wise with Joe White, and Life Creative: Inspiration for Today's Renaissance Mom with Wendy Speake. Kelli lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband and five children.

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My Review

 

This is a time split novel, and a treasure hunt. What do we end up looking for, a priceless egg, more precisely a Fabrege' egg!

This is a story of family relationships, and the losses that sometimes happen in family dynamics, we we see it play out here in our search.

The time split puts us back at the time of the Russian Revolution, and then back to the present time. We end up in Russia, where I really wouldn't want to be right now, but then back in the to Florida.

Parental relationships play a big part in this story, in both the past and present, and we see how this really shapes their children's lives.

The author did a great job of making me feel I was there while these talented artists created treasures. We also see what happens when people have to flee for their lives, and the ramifications.

My main criticism of this story is it is not a Christian read, no it is a clean read, but their is no faith displayed here, which I come to expect from the books I read from a Christian publisher.

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Revell, and was not required to give a positive review.