As a child, Keely was told the matroshka had been in the family for generations. That just because your surname was ‘Jones’ didn’t mean the family tree might not have aristocratic exiled Russian ancestors, who had aggrieved Peter or Catherine the Great and whose daughter had fled clutching her treasured toy.
It made for many romantic imaginings and Keely always held her head a little bit higher knowing the family secret the nesting dolls attested.
Until one day she had the mysterious Cyrillic on the bottom checked out by a Russian speaker who told her it said ‘Made in England.’
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