Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond

A shiny piece of carbon is what ensnares writer Kevin Rushby, luring him into a strange world of hidden towns with no names, a land of charms, chakras, cardamom, and missing gem mines. But it's not just any chunk of glittering jewel with which Rushby is obsessed: he's pursuing the history of the Koh-I-Noor diamond, a 106-karat piece of crystalline perfection now part of England's Crown Jewels. Research pulls him across India and into a diverse culture that is so exotic--and simultaneously so mystical, esoteric, and often criminal--that he may as well have fallen into Middle-earth.

The diamond now sits in the Tower of London, but the magnificent gem's past proves elusive, its light flickering in a maze of mirrors, cloaked in myth, lies, and mystery. The truth about whence it came and which palms it crossed may ultimately never be uncovered. Nevertheless, Rushby artfully uses the pretext to uncover rich stories: of the excesses of wealthy jewelers, of impoverished farmers who discover gleaming wealth in the fields, and of clandestine diamond markets, where cloth-wrapped baubles are sold on the streets like peddled crack.

Names of Indian places and people do get confusing--and there are more characters spinning around in this book than a Russian novel--but that doesn't matter. Rushby weaves Chasing the Mountain of Light with lush detail, creating a tale as compelling, multifaceted, and breathtaking as the diamond itself. --Melissa Rossi