Hope: Adventures of a Diamond [Hardcover]

Marian Fowler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0756767040 | ISBN-13: 978-0756767044 | Publication Date: April 1, 2002

The Hope Diamond -- the largest & most beautiful blue diamond ever found -- has inspired centuries of legends & lies, fabulous superstition, & fierce passion. Here is the riveting story of this mythical gem & the extraordinary men & women who have owned & lost it. It was unearthed in India sometime before the birth of Christ. For centuries, it served as the eye in a statue of a Hindu god. With the arrival of Europeans, the Diamond was snatched from the religious realm & thrust into the world of commerce. Dutch trader Philip Hope acquired it & brought it to England, but by the 20th cent. it was possessed by various Amer. millionaires. Diamond master Harry Winston finally donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in Wash., DC, where it is on display. Illus.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Born scores of miles below the earth's surface eons ago, the great gem known today as the Hope diamond has been "crisscrossing countries and cultures for more than two thousand years," bringing fortune and disaster alike to its many owners. Marian Fowler reconstructs the flawless blue diamond's long journey from its discovery in the mines of northern India to Europe and onward to America. Along the way she looks at the strange mania for gem collecting among Europe's nobility (noting, for instance, that French monarch Louis bought $16 million worth of jewels in the year 1687, to his treasurer's great consternation); studies a remarkable gang of jewel thieves who used the turmoil of the French Revolution to their highly profitable advantage; and examines the career of the American entrepreneur and gem collector Harry Winston, who "became obsessed with owning all the world's largest, most famous diamonds," and whose largesse, though self-serving, made the great gem part of the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution. Fowler's tale has all the twists and turns of a good mystery, and gem fanciers and history buffs alike will enjoy following the Hope diamond's curious career through her pages. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Billed as the biography of the Hope Diamond, this comprehensive but overwritten book traces the cherished jewel's history from its formation in India more than a billion years ago to its current status as museum treasure. In her painstaking saga of the diamond's "life," Canadian Fowler (Blenheim: Biography of a Palace; In a Gilded Cage: American Heiresses Who Married British Aristocrats; etc.) hypothesizes about the blue diamond's origins, then introduces readers to each of its owners. The first, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French merchant, sold the stone to King Louis XIV; the last, American jeweler Harry Winston, donated it to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where the 45-carat gem has drawn millions of visitors for the past 40 years. Fowler's chronicle traverses the diamond's passage from the pockets of thieves who stole the diamond during the French Revolution to England and its namesake owner, Henry Philip Hope, into the hands of a social-climbing actress; then across the ocean to America, where an alcoholic heiress donned it frequently for parties but the author's cliched and overdramatic prose mars the gripping tale. Writing of Philip Hope, she gushes that the diamond "had found the man who, of all its many owners, would love it most faithfully and intensely, love it for its own essence and grace...." Though Fowler honorably corrects false rumors about the diamond and offers a few engaging tangents, this volume does not do its worthy subject justice. Agent, Jay Mandel. (Apr.)Forecast: Diamonds may be timeless, but they're also particularly in vogue now, at least in books. In October, W.H. Freeman released Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic and in November, Walker published Diamond: A Journey to the Heart of an Obsession (Forecasts, Oct.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 367 pages
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756767040
• ISBN-13: 978-0756767044
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,363,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I Don't Think So, July 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hope: Adventures of a Diamond (Hardcover)

One of the dumbest books I have ever read. Fowler does OK, just OK, when she writes of the more recent history of the diamond because she has well-documented information from which to draw. But, in her chronicles of the stone during the early years of its murky existence, she lets her imagination run wild, her prose becomes over-blown and turgid, and "facts" she throws about are questionable in the extreme. Ghastly, ghastly writing. Do NOT buy this book!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mildly diverting, June 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hope: Adventures of a Diamond (Hardcover)

Hope: Adventures of a Diamond might be worth a quick read if you have nothing better to read at the moment. The author writes mostly about the diamond's various owners, who were generally people of little interest. There is some information about the diamond and diamond-cutting, as well as some about other famous gems. The author, who holds a doctorate in English literature, cannot seem to decide whether she wishes to write a fiction or nonfiction book; she frequently launches into melodramatic prose about things she could not possibly know, such as owners' thoughts. Occasionally irritating is the author's lack of knowledge about things like history and economics, on which she nevertheless pronounces her opinions. For instance, she writes that Peter the Great "proved to be very kind and gentle". His own son, who he had tortured and killed, would be surprised to know that! Similarly, she says that Napoleon "marched with ego as big as his army across Europe, and England acted to contain him". Just England, huh? Where was England at the Battle of the Nations? Finally, perhaps only an English major could write with a straight face that the diamond's first European owner "prefigures the modern capitalist... who is still pillaging the global village". In summary, the book contains some information that is mildly interesting, but don't expect a lot.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars lacks sparkle, July 17, 2002

By 

meg woods (Richland, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hope: Adventures of a Diamond (Hardcover)

There isn't a lot that could have done to make this more interesting, and the attempts made at conjecture and embellishment (regarding its curse, for example) don't add very much to the content. But, a reader does learn the story of the Hope Diamond and through the telling, about an interesting mix of historical information such as the French Revolution, Regency England, and Gilded Age America. And gem novices can learn about the nature of diamonds and of cultural attitudes to diamonds at various places and times in this book.