© Editorial Pre-Textos, 2012
On a fund-raising tour in America in 1919, Rita, the young wife of Eamon de Valera's right-hand man Frank O'Fiaich, falls in love with Nina, a member of a Bolshevik delegation trying their hand - with much less success than the Irish - at raising money for their cause abroad. As the women become lovers, Nina reveals a piquant secret - she carries the Romanov crown jewels sewn into her lingerie. Through a pragmatic deal between the impecunious Russians, who hand over their ex-monarchs' treasures as security, and the Irish, who are flush enough to provide a healthy loan, Rita returns back to Dublin as the custodian of the breathtakingly beautiful jewels. While her rough-hewn husband is caught up in Irish politics, Rita is relegated to the kitchen. Her treasure remains her consolation and adds the occasional sparkle to her outfit in public. By 1955, however, the loan to the Communists has become an embarrassing political time bomb...
Hamish Hamilton 1993
Translated into: Spanish
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