Victoria Finlay – författare

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.From the Hardcover edition.

This book, arising from over twenty years experience of working with the world's major faiths, draws extensively upon joint World Bank and ARC (Alliance of Religion & Conservation) /WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) projects world wide. It shows, through stories, land management, myths, investment policies, legends, advocacy and celebration, the role the major faiths have, do and can play in making the world a better place. The major faiths are the oldest institutions in the world and have survived essentially because they are constantly evolving and changing. There is much to be learnt by newer institutions such as the World Bank and the multitudes of NGOs about how to remain true to what you believe but change and grow as you develop. The book explores issues of climate change, forestry, asset management, education and biodiversity protection and does so using the techniques of the great faiths - storytelling, example and celebration. It reveals a variety of world views and it asks us to see that our personal view may be just one amongst many.The challenge of living with integrity in a pluralist world underlies the book and it offers models of how diversity is crucial in attempting to ensure we have a sustainable world.

A magnificent work of original research that unravels history through textiles and cloth—how we make it, use it, and what it means to us. A New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceHow is a handmade fabric helping save an ancient forest? Why is a famous fabric pattern from India best known by the name of a Scottish town? How is a Chinese dragon robe a diagram of the whole universe? What is the difference between how the Greek Fates and the Viking Norns used threads to tell our destiny? In Fabric, bestselling author Victoria Finlay spins us round the globe, weaving stories of our relationship with cloth and asking how and why people through the ages have made it, worn it, invented it, and made symbols out of it. And sometimes why they have fought for it. She beats the inner bark of trees into cloth in Papua New Guinea, fails to handspin cotton in Guatemala, visits tweed weavers at their homes in Harris, and has lessons in patchwork-making in Gee's Bend, Alabama - where in the 1930s, deprived of almost everything they owned, a community of women turned quilting into an art form. She began her research just after the deaths of both her parents —and entwined in the threads she found her personal story too. Fabric is not just a material history of our world, but Finlay's own journey through grief and recovery.

'Subtle, compendious and rich' - James McConnachie, The Sunday Times'Dazzling ... Finlay's adventures, vividly recounted, make enthralling reading ... This book is equally an inspiration and an education' - Bel Mooney, Daily Mail'A gorgeous adventure through the history of cloth' - StylistThe Sunday Times best paperbacks of 2022Bestselling author Victoria Finlay spins us round the globe in a vibrant exploration of cloth through the ages. She beats the inner bark of trees into cloth in Papua New Guinea, fails to handspin cotton in Guatemala, visits tweed weavers at their homes in Harris, and has lessons in patchwork-making in Gee's Bend, Alabama. And through it all she uncovers the hidden histories of fabric: how and why people have made it, worn it, invented it and made symbols of itInterlaced with Victoria's own story of grief and recovery, Fabric is a lush patchwork of travel, history, memoir and culture - an unforgettable look into how we have made fabric, and how it has made us.

''Subtle, compendious and rich'' - James McConnachie, The Sunday Times''Dazzling ... Finlay''s adventures, vividly recounted, make enthralling reading ... This book is equally an inspiration and an education'' - Bel Mooney, Daily Mail''A gorgeous adventure through the history of cloth'' - StylistThe Sunday Times best paperbacks of 2022Bestselling author Victoria Finlay spins us round the globe in a vibrant exploration of cloth through the ages. She beats the inner bark of trees into cloth in Papua New Guinea, fails to handspin cotton in Guatemala, visits tweed weavers at their homes in Harris, and has lessons in patchwork-making in Gee''s Bend, Alabama. And through it all she uncovers the hidden histories of fabric: how and why people have made it, worn it, invented it and made symbols of it Interlaced with Victoria''s own story of grief and recovery, Fabric is a lush patchwork of travel, history, memoir and culture - an unforgettable look into how we have made fabric, and how it has made us.

Woher kommt das Ultramarinblau? Weshalb sieht man Turners Gemälden heute nicht mehr an, dass er eine Vorliebe für leuchtendes Karminrot hatte? Jede Farbe des Regenbogens hat ihre Geheimnisse - Victoria Finlay ist ihnen auf den Grund gegangen und hat daraus eine unterhaltsame Kulturgeschichte gemacht, die nicht nur Kunstliebhaber in ihren Bann zieht.

En este vívido y cautivador viaje a través de los colores de la paleta de un artista, Victoria Finlay nos lleva a una apasionante aventura alrededor del mundo y a través de los tiempos, iluminando cómo los colores que elegimos valorar han determinado la historia de la propia cultura.¿Cómo viajó el preciado color azul desde las remotas minas de lapislázuli de Afganistán hasta el pincel de Miguel Ángel? ¿Cuál es la relación entre la pintura marrón y las antiguas momias egipcias? ¿Por qué Robin Hood vestía de verde Lincoln? En Color, Finlay explora los materiales físicos que colorean nuestro mundo, como los minerales preciosos y la sangre de los insectos, así como los significados sociales y políticos que el color ha tenido a lo largo del tiempo.Los emperadores romanos solían llevar togas teñidas de un color púrpura que se fabricaba con un oloroso marisco libanés, lo que probablemente significaba que su olor les precedía. En el siglo XVIII, el tinte negro se llamaba logwood y crecía a lo largo del Meno español. Algunas de las primeras plantaciones de índigo fueron iniciadas en América, sorprendentemente, por una chica de diecisiete años llamada Eliza. Y el popular cuadro de Van Gogh Rosas blancas de la Galería Nacional de Washington tuvo que ser rebautizado después de que un investigador descubriera que las flores estaban hechas originalmente con una pintura rosa que se había desvanecido hacía casi un siglo. El color está repleto de personas, acontecimientos y anécdotas extraordinarias, pintadas de forma aún más deslumbrante por el atractivo estilo de Finlay.Embárquese en una emocionante aventura con esta intrépida periodista mientras viaja en burro por las antiguas rutas comerciales de la seda; con los fenicios que navegaban por el Mediterráneo en busca de una concha especial de color púrpura que cosechaba riqueza, sustento y prestigio; con los modernos agricultores chilenos que crían y desangran insectos por su viscosa sangre roja. Los colores que elaboran nuestro mundo nunca han sido tan brillantes.