Jewels: A Secret History

By Victoria Finlay

Throughout 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 15, 2006
• ISBN: 9780345493354

Victoria Finlay

Victoria Finlay is the critically acclaimed author of Colour - Travels Through the Paintbox and the former arts editor of the South China Morning Post. She studied social anthropology and has travelled around the world in search of stories about her subjects, from colour to jewels and fabric. As well as writing, she has worked in international development.

Reviews for Jewels

[bronwyn52 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

it is a good book about an american woman,s experiences before and after her marriage to an english duke, especially with their family jewelry business after the death of the duke

[jbarr5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jewels by Danielle SteelThis book is about Sarah and her life. Starts out when she is young and marries a guy in high society. She soon learns he is using her name and status to get what he really wants.They divorce and the parents are lucky to drag her over to England where they attempt to set her up with a new interest, to no avail.She ends up meeting a duke that acts like a regular guy and he's one she can talk to about world affairs. They end up marrying and she really wants the chateau in France on 10 acres of land.The war takes them from each other and she misses her sister, brother in law and children, along with her parents. Love all the scenes of her fixing up the house where they will live, the war invasion and how she befriends the German soldier that delivers her 2nd child.Happy and sad events as she travels, after the war to visit her mother in law...love how strong she is during the whole time under siege and after the war as she helps others heal from their wounds.Like hearing of her design work and how her career took place....travels around the world.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[gregcuba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

OK for kind of book it is. Slow and romantic

[carolinagirl2104 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed reading this Danielle Steel book. Cant wait to read another Danielle Steel book.

[ddjtj1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

JEWELS BY DANIELLE STEEL is the first and only book of this authors I have read. I have to give credit where credit is due. My mom insisted I read this one as I am a fan of Historical Fiction, so I did and loved it! Since I am a newby of this authors I cannot compare it to any of her other works. I found characters that were true to real life, Sarah & her disastrous first marriage, her miscarriage & her profound depression. Sarah, literally forced to go to Europe with her parents, finds William, first a friend then her lifelong soulmate. We see Sarah at age twenty two right up to her birthday at a very young seventy five. We see Sarah fall hopelessly in love with William, marry move to Europe and endure the second world war and beyond. We get to experience the birth of Sarah's children Spanning the decades I fell in love with Sarah, William & Danielle Steel.