Tears of Mermaids: The Secret Story of Pearls

About this book

For Tears of Mermaids Stephen G. Bloom traveled 30 000 miles to trace a single pearlfrom the moment a diver off the coast of Australia scoops from the ocean floor an oyster containing a single luminescent pearl to the instant a woman on the other side of the world fastens the clasp of a strand containing the same orb. Bloom chronicles the never-before-told saga of the global pearl trade by gaining access to clandestine outposts in Japan China the Philippines French Polynesia and Australia. Bloom infiltrates high-tech pearl farms and processing facilities guarded by gun-toting sentries and insinuates himself into the lives of powerful international pearl lords. Bloom farms for pearls in rural China goes behind scenes at million-dollar auctions in Hong Kong trails pearl brokers and Internet entrepreneurs in Asia hires himself out as a deckhand on an Australian pearling vessel and goes backstage at Christies for a fast and furious auction of the most expensive pearl ever sold. Teeming with rogue humor and uncanny intelligence Tears of Mermaids weaves a nonstop detective story of the worlds most enduring gem.