"This is the tale of an exciting journey along the Silk Road with a young Monk and his newfound guardian, Samir, a larger than life character and the so-called "Seller of Dreams." The man is a scammer; his biggest skill being the ability to talk his way into getting what he wants. While that talking did save Monkey's life, it has left a lot of people furious with Samir -- furious enough to hire assassins. Monkey decides to try and save Samir from...

1760s, Spitalfields. Esther Thorel, wife of a master silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel thinking she is doing God's will, but her good deed is not returned. Sara, realizing the Thorel household is built on hypocrisy and lies, tires of the drudgery of life as Esther's maid. Esther yearned to be a silk designer, but her water colors are dismissed by her husband, Elias, as the daubs of a foolish girl. Bisby Lambert is brought in by Elias to...

"As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she craved--to be an explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and metaphysician--had gone extinct. From what she could tell of the world from small-town Ontario, the likes of Marco Polo and Magellan had mapped the whole earth; there was nothing left to be discovered. Looking beyond this planet, she decided to become a scientist and go to Mars. In between studying at Oxford and MIT, Harris set off by bicycle...

Song Sun likes to talk but never listens. After talking too much to a stranger, Song Sun accidentally gives away the Chinese secret of silk making. Will Song Sun be able to save the secret?

"Raised in a prosperous family of 14th century Chinese merchants, by the age of sixteen Wu Johanna's world reaches from Japan in the east to Tajikistan in the west. It's a world seen from camelback, through tent flaps, and in the cool, shaded caravanserai where travelers and traders gather along the Silk Road. Hers is a world of spice merchants and pearl divers, bandits and troubadours, servants and sheikhs. A world in which trust is more valuable...

From our earliest ancestors to babies born today, fabric is a necessary part of our everyday lives, but it's also an opportunity for creativity, symbolism, culture and connection. Traveling across the world and bringing history to life, bestselling author Victoria Finlay investigates how and why people have made and used cloth. A century ago in Wales, women would sew their own funeral clothes over tea with friends. In Papua New Guinea, bark is stripped...