Hope: Adventures of a Diamond - Rilegato

Fowler-fowler-marian

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0679311203 ISBN 13: 9780679311201

Casa editrice: Random House of Canada, Limited, 2002

Riassunto

The Hope Diamond — the largest and most beautiful dark blue diamond ever found — has inspired legends and lies, fabulous superstition and fierce passion. For three centuries it passed from hand to hand, and from country to country. It may have served as all-powerful eye in a Hindu statue, was worn by three French kings amidst the splendours of Versailles and was stolen in a farcical jewel heist during the terrors of the French Revolution. Rescued and adored by a rich Dutch art connoisseur, the diamond later became the subject of a long and bitter London court battle, whose every sensational detail was splashed across the tabloid newspapers of the day. Cartier’s Paris atelier acquired it in 1909 and persuaded Washington society hostess Evalyn Walsh McLean to buy it. She wore the gem —when it wasn’t adorning her dog — almost every day of her Great Gatsby life, and even, once, in an operating room. It was only when diamond master Harry Winston donated this prize to the Smithsonian that the Hope was finally accessible to all who wanted to admire it.

A sweeping saga, Hope: Adventures of a Diamond is at once a page-turning thriller and a glittering social history. Dazzling and delicious, this is a book truly worthy of its flawless, priceless subject.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

“Hope: Adventures of a Diamond is a copious, unstinting work of popular scholarship, and a rousing tale of the flawless sapphire blue stone that holds ‘the secret of Creation itself.’ Marian Fowler’s chronological approach to the material is well organized and richly detailed, and the book’s insights on changing values ascribed to the diamond -- on how so many paid so much for a mere lump of mineral -- are particularly strong.” -- Quill and Quire

“Fowler’s detailed, vivid description of the gem’s rough life in India is some of her best work. . . . . Fowler has done a fine job conveying what people have created in their minds from the reflection of this miraculous, but mute, stone.” -- The Globe and Mail

L'autore:

Marian Fowler holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Toronto and was the recipient of the Canadian Biography Award. She has taught at York University and is the author of a number of books, including In a Gilded Cage, Below the Peacock Fan, The Embroidered Tent, Blenheim and The Way She Looks Tonight. She lives in Toronto.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Random House of Canada, Limited
• Data di pubblicazione: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0679311203
• ISBN 13: 9780679311201
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 384