The Cartiers

The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire

By: Francesca Cartier Brickell

Narrated by: Hattie Morahan

“A dynamic group biography studded with design history and high-society dash . . . [This] elegantly wrought narrative bears the Cartier hallmark.”—The Economist

The “astounding” (André Leon Talley) story of the family behind the Cartier empire and the three brothers who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury icon—as told by a great-granddaughter with exclusive access to long-lost family archives
“Ms. Cartier Brickell has done her grandfather proud.”—The Wall Street Journal
The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents: Louis, the visionary designer who created the first men’s wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands off the controls of his flying machine; Pierre, the master dealmaker who bought the New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace; and Jacques, the globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry.

Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, has traveled the world researching her family’s history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told dramas, romances, intrigues, betrayals, and more.

The Cartiers also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry—the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond, the Romanov emeralds, the classic panther pieces—and the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them, from Indian maharajas and Russian grand duchesses to Wallis Simpson, Coco Chanel, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Published in the two-hundredth anniversary year of the birth of the dynasty’s founder, Louis-François Cartier, this book is a magnificent, definitive, epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.

Fascinating!

Well written, well read, well worth your time. On the favorite list from now on.

DAZZLING!

I loved every minute of this audible book. Loved the family history, locations, and the descriptions of the jewels and the fascinating people who acquired and wore them. The narrator is stellar!
Highly recommend for both the jewelry lover and history buff!

The best book of the year! I just love it

Every single piece of the story was so well described, with lots of details and with such a charm. A marvelous job. Looking forward to get more books from the author.

Fascinating history of the timeless world of Cartier

This book is an amazing chronicle of a family dedicated to finding exquisite jewels, forming amazing friendships and cultivating relationships, while creating exquisitely and meticulously crafted jewelry. It is inspirational and historically told with curiously attentive detail.
I googled most piec

A beautifully crafted jewel of a story

Francesca Cartier Brickell has written as fine a family memoir as one might expect from a long line of exquisite jewelers. As a memoir about a multi generation family, one might expect it to be of far more interest to those surviving family members but setting each generation of the Cartier family within their unique historical settings sets their unique personalities to solve the economic trials and design demands of their eras. The author has created a fascinating historical saga of much wider interest. As the Cartier brothers pursued the great jewels across Europe, Russia and India, the only thing missing for the reader are pictures of their luscious creations. But an audio book has its limitations. This book is an interesting tale for lovers of vintage jewelry as well as art history.