Books.
The Secret Lives of Colour.
From scarlet women to imperial purple, from the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, from kelly green to acid yellow, the surprising stories of colour run like a bright thread through our history. The Secret Lives of Colour was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and a Sunday Times top-five bestseller.
“Even Farrow & Ball don’t know as much about colour as Kassia St Clair”―TLS
“If you want to fall back in love with colour, read this book”―Sunday Telegraph
“A vivid, whirlwind tour through the rainbow”―Wall Street Journal
“Fascinating”―Wired
“Mind-expanding”―Simon Garfield
“Excellent”―The Spectator
The Golden Thread.
From colourful 30,000-year-old threads found in a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, this book weaves a story of human ingenuity in 13, crisply entertaining episodes. A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, Sunday Times Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Somerset Maugham Award.
“Hugely ambitious, sparklingly erudite, and wonderfully engaging”―Peter Frankopan, History Today
“Joyful and beautiful”―Nature
“Will make you rethink your relationship with fabric”―Elle
“Fascinating…I recommend this book to anyone”―Spectator
“A charming, absorbing history that takes us on a journey from the silk roads to sportswear, from ruffs to spacesuits…[a] quietly feminist book”―Sunday Times
“St. Clair’s descriptions of textiles and the people who created and wore them are sensual and even moving”―The New Yorker
The Race to the Future.
10 June 1907, Peking. Five cars set off in a desperate race across two continents. Their destination: Paris. The world of 1907 is poised between the old and the new: communist regimes will replace imperial ones in China and Russia; the telegraph is transforming modern communication, the car will soon displace the horse and many millions will become embroiled in the First World War. The Race to the Future is the incredible true story of the quest against the odds that helped shape the world we live in today.
“Gripping and stirring”―The Spectator
“A skillful researcher as well as a fine storyteller”―Literary Review
“What a yarn! Mind boggling, often funny and occasionally hair-raising”―Philip Ball
“As energetic and engaging as it is erudite”―Waterstones
“Thrilling…incredible”―Country Life
“The perfect read for the China history buff and/or petrol head in your life”―Paul French