Mother-of-pearl carving in Bethlehem Mother-of-pearl carving in Bethlehem Mother-of-Pearl carving, a traditional handicraft in Bethlehem, is said to have been brought to the city by Franciscan friars from Italy in the 15th century. Bethlehem's position as an important Christian city has for centuries attracted a constant stream of pilgrims. This generated much local work and income, also for women, including making mother-of-pearl souvenirs. According to Weir, Bethlehem women's employment in the mother-of-pearl industry goes back at least to the seventeenth century. It was noted by Richard Pococke, who travelled there in 1727. Previously, most of the oysters for the mother-of-pearl supply came from the
The White Pearl (novel) The White Pearl (novel) The White Pearl is a 2012 novel by Kate Furnivall set during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in the early 1940s. "The White Pearl's" initially takes place on a rubber plantation, later moving onto the yacht from which the novel takes its name. The novel's main character, Constance "Connie" Hadley, accidentally kills a Malay woman who places a curse upon Hadley and her family several minutes before passing away. The killed woman is the mother of teenage twins, Maya and Razak, and Hadley endeavours to meet with the pair after a troubling guilt affects her already