| The Enchantress Of Florence - A Novel
(2008)
|
| Front Cover |
Book Details |
|
| Genre |
Fiction |
| Subject |
Women - Mogul Empire - Fiction; Women - Italy - Florence - Fiction; Mogul Empire - Kings And Rulers - Fiction; Mogul Empire - Social Conditions - Fiction; Florence (Italy) - Social Conditions - Fiction |
| Publication Date |
6/3/2008 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.4
x
6.4
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Random House |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
|
| Description |
| A tall, yellow-haired young European traveller calling himself "Mogor dell'Amore," the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the real Grand Mughal, the Emperor Akbar, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the whole imperial capital. The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess, the youngest sister of Akbar's grandfather Babar: Qara Köz, 'Lady Black Eyes', a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, who is taken captive first by an Uzbeg warlord, then by the Shah of Persia, and finally becomes the lover of a certain Argalia, a Florentine soldier of fortune, commander of the armies of the Ottoman Sultan. When Argalia returns home with his Mughal mistress the city is mesmerised by her presence, and much trouble ensues. But is Mogor's story true? And if so, then what happened to the lost princess? And if he's a liar, must he die?--From publisher description. |
| Personal Details |
| Store |
Bookman's |
| Purchase Price |
$8.00 |
| Acquire Date |
9/4/2019 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
|
|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
PR6068.U757 .E53 2008 |
| Dewey |
823.914 |
| ISBN |
9780375504334 |
| Cover Price |
$26.00 |
| No. of Pages |
355 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
For a while, I debated describing this book as either fantastic or fabulous. I'm going to go with "fabulous". If someone tells me they're reading a fantasy, I think of dragons. This book has the language and pacing of fable.
We start off with the story of a blonde traveler, but that's a sort of diversion. The real story, the story of the title character, is what the blonde traveler tells the king. The traveler lives in the city of the king and tells his story over years, but we get it mostly (mostly) in one chunk, the middle third of the book.
I'd generally say that I'm not a fan of fable (or fantasy). I tend to want my stories to, if not exist in the real world, exist in a world subject to the same physics as mine. But Rushdie's stories are fantastical. I love his use of language, his use of words, the turn of a phrase; his ability to transport me to somewhere I'm generally not that interested in visiting. And I love his stories.
It's unusual to find a bibliography at the end of a work of fiction, but I find it apt for this one. Rushdie covers a lot of ground, ground that's new to me but ground I've often told myself I'd like to cover. I'm not particularly interested in Vespucci or Machiavelli, but perhaps Rushdie's bibliography will point me toward an interesting work about the Medicis. |
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