Jewels

A Secret History

By: Victoria Finlay

Narrated 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.

Critic reviews

Praise for Victoria Finlay’s Color

“The writing elegant and precise, and with at least one new and fascinating revelation on every single page . . . I could not be more enthusiastic.”
–Simon Winchester, author of A Crack in the Edge of the World

“Color is the essence of landscape, of mood, of our whole perception of the physical world. Victoria Finlay has traveled through Iran, Afghanistan, and other places to investigate the origin of all those tantalizingly sensual ochers and reds and blues. What a creative idea for a book!”
–Robert D. Kaplan, author of Imperial Grunts

“In this engaging travelogue, a rainbow of hues determined the author’s choice of destinations. . . . By the time you read ‘Violet,’ you will have traversed much of the world, sharing Finlay’s contagious fascination with color.”
–Condé Nast Traveler

“A rainbow of stories . . . even casual natural history fans can enjoy Finlay’s conversational style and her enthusiasm.”
–Chicago Tribune

A very unique view of history

I didn’t know what I was getting when I bought this book, but it far surpassed my few expectations. The author is adventurous and detailed in her pursuit of knowledge. I am definitely going to look at her other works.

Very interesting.

She is a good writer and picks interesting pieces of history to write about… gems, color etc.

Great historical stories

Second book I listened to about gems/jewels. Much better than the first book. There’s not many gems covered but those that are were presented wonderfully. Many memorable stories about these precious stones.

Exotic Gemstone Destinations

I loved the Descriptions of the visit to the exotic places and the gemstones found along with its history.
Just beautiful!

Just as good as her other books

If you liked Fabric and Color by Victoria Finlay you will like Jewels just as much. A worthy listen.

So well researched and captivating

I’m impressed by the author’s in-depth and personal research, traveling to remote places and gaining access to restricted areas through sheer determination and hutzpah. The result is a very interesting and captivating book. The narration takes some getting used to, but it is the author’s own voice so I do appreciate that.

Serendipity

Loved the passion and story-telling in this book. As a commercial geologist, I have sold and bought whole gallery quality minerals for at least a decade. Their shapes, colors and chemistry have always been fascinating and entrancing. However, the toil and suffering that brought them to the surface is tragic and terrible. When we look at gems and minerals, what we see is the result of endless lattices of odysseys made concrete. Finlay captures these complex realities masterfully, though I would have liked a bit more science in this work. She does wax a bit overly poetic. But it’s out of passion, not pretentiousness.

Fascinating romp around the world

Romance, adventure, greed, murder, history, science, geography,business , politics…on and on. This book has it all.

Social history of gems

This is a social history of the people involved in finding, mining, finishing and selling gemstones.

a great primer for those into gems

I liked this book very much but would have loved for it to be longer. The story of how the author got her engagement ring with Byzantine mosaics is amazing and I would love to have heard more about the provenance of the stones and glass in her ring.