Helen Molesworth has been captivated by precious stones since early childhood, but when she tried to join the gemstone industry as a fresh-faced university graduate, she struggled, having no connections in a patriarchal field dominated for centuries by a few family-run companies. Two-plus decades later, Molesworth is now an international authority, having been hired to appraise the extraordinary jewelry of such clients as the British royal family. Her book is packed with inside stories about fabulous jewels associated with generations of celebrities, from Cleopatra (emerald) to Catherine, Princess of Wales (sapphire). As Molesworth tells it, the history of gemstones is the history of humanity. And so she journeys the world, trudging through African diamond mines, Colombian emerald mines, and the sapphire-rich rivers of Sri Lanka to study gems at their source.