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    <body><![CDATA[A fascinating tale of how pearls get from their shells into the settings that find some auctioned off for millions. Bloom may have set out to highlight the contradiction between the poverty of the workers closest to the source and the wealth of the ultimate consumers, but the story becomes much rich...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78361469">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;&lt;DIV&gt;For <em>Tears of Mermaids</em>, Stephen G. Bloom traveled 30,000 miles to trace a single pearl—from 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 Christie’s for a fast and furious auction of the most expensive pearl ever sold. Teeming with rogue humor and uncanny intelligence, <em>Tears of Mermaids </em>weaves a nonstop detective story of the world’s most enduring gem. <p></p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <published>2009</published>
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  <date_added>Tue Nov 03 20:21:01 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 03 20:21:16 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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