What started from the Colombian Andes in South America as part of an exploration of the history of emeralds, ended in Jaipur, in a rendezvous with the cutters and polishers of the gemstone. But what transpired during this transcontinental journey changed the course of Emerald, Ruth Padel's latest book.

"During my research for the book, my mother began to die. She was 97 and had an aneurysm [weakening of an artery wall]. It seized over and stopped, but she was still in some pain. Around the same time, I was supposed to go to the Jaipur Literature Festival, and there was no way I was leaving. But she insisted that I go; she was a determined woman. And that's how I also met the emerald cutters and jewellers in Jaipur," recalls the award-winning British poet and writer, who read from Emerald to a rapt audience at a SoBo bookstore over the weekend.