Jonathan Self – författare

Lavishly illustrated and exquisitely deisgned, this book opens with a stunning series of images of style icons – historic and modern – wearing their favoured emerald jewelry. As befits a prized gemstone that is twenty times rarer than diamond, here we see together, for the first time, pieces worn by celebrities ranging from filmstars to royalty, all alongside classic images of emeralds from art, advertising and fashion, celebrated in a text by Franca Sozzani, editor of Vogue Italia . The second part of this major volume showcases more than forty of the world’s most significant and famous pieces of emerald jewelry, including many previously unseen designs from private and royal collections. Historic creations that are up to 5,500 years old are represented alongside all the modern jewelry houses. The third and final part of Emerald tells the story of the emerald trade from mine to market, illustrated with specially commissioned photography taken across four continents.

At 35, despite his determination to be different from his parents, Jonathan Self found his life echoing theirs: he was a twice-divorced absent father with three young children, one in the UK and two in Australia. In this frank, moving and often funny memoir, Self documents his efforts to break the family mould and become a different kind of parent. Highly personal in its discussion of alcohol, drug and sexual abuse and filled with extraordinary characters and events, SELF ABUSE also tells a more universal story - a story about best intentions goig awry, of the pain of being separated from one's children, and of the deep impact parent's actions have on their children lives. Ultimately, SELF ABUSE is a story filled with love and hope.