'A beautiful book. Reading it is, in fact, very much like dipping into a jewel box and pulling out curious and brilliant things, different each time but always fascinating.' -- Nadeem Aslam, author of Maps for Lost Lovers, on JEWELS: A SECRET HISTORY 'Filled with eye-catching incidents and stories ... Finlay's evidence glitters from every page' -- Lawrence Norfolk, Sunday Telegraph 'Glorious ... anecdote and information accumulate with marvellous abundance and a passionate sense of the fascination of jewels ... a wonderfully generous gift' -- John de Falbe, Spectator 'A fascinating and exhaustive travelogue ... a prism through which the spectrum of history, geography and the sciences is refracted' -- Anna Swann, Spectator 'As a first glimpse into the jewel trade, rich, ancient and bloody, it could hardly be bettered' -- The Tablet 'A tour de force ... the breadth of research and insight is dazzling' -- Glasgow Herald 20030607 'A highly companionable guide, adventurous and romantic' -- Independent on Sunday 20030607 'Packed with stories, anecdotes and adventures. A full rainbow ... as vivid as the colours themselves' - -- Sunday Express 20030607 'This is a rare and wonderful book ... I could not be more enthusiastic' -- Simon Winchester, author of THE PROFESSOR AND THE 20030607 'It's pure pleasure to join this gutsy arts reporter-cum-scholar on her quest for historical pigments and dyes around the world' -- Independent 20030607

Victoria Finlay studied social anthropology at St Andrews University, specialising in Asian culture. She worked as a journalist in Hong Kong for eleven years, five of which were spent as arts editor for the South China Morning Post. She now lives in Derbyshire.