Jewels: A Secret History
Jewels: A Secret History
Finlay, Victoria
product information
Condition: New, UPC: 9780345466952, Publication Date: Wed, August 1, 2007, Type: Paperback ,
join & start selling
description
2Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book, journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending adventure travel, geology, exciting new research, and her own irresistible charm, Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable, glamorous, and mysterious substances on earth.

With the same intense curiosity and narrative flair she displayed in her widely-praised book Color, Finlay journeys from the underground opal churches of outback Australia to the once pearl-rich rivers of Scotland; from the peridot mines on an Apache reservation in Arizona to the remote ruby mines in the mountains of northern Burma. She risks confronting scorpions to crawl through Cleopatra's long-deserted emerald mines, tries her hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo bartered for sapphires, and investigates a rumor that fifty years ago most of the world's amber was mined by prisoners in a Soviet gulag.

Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth's mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power, and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond, to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured, to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond, Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.

reviews

Be the first to write a review

member goods

No member items were found under this heading.

listens & views

BLUES FOR MR JIMMY

by MCGRIFF,JIMMY

COMPACT DISC

out of stock

$11.99

UNDER MY SKIN

by LAMBERT,MARK

COMPACT DISC

$17.75

VOYAGER

by TAFKA BUDDAH

COMPACT DISC

out of stock

$14.99

I REMEMBER MICHAEL (M JACKSON ...

by RAFFERTY,ADAM

COMPACT DISC

out of stock

$17.49

Return Policy

All sales are final

Shipping

No special shipping considerations available.
Shipping fees determined at checkout.