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The Enchantress of Florence

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…

Texas by James A. Michener

Texas – A Rambling Kind of Book Review

I’ve long been a fan of historical fiction but really read mostly the traditional stuff – you know…mostly European history dealing with the Tudor era, French revolution, Regency England, that kind of thing. But, of late, that’s begun to pall…so much so, that I didn’t even bother picking up Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, a…

The Swan Thieves

The Swan Thieves

What I feared would happen has happened. I have finished The Swan Thieves, which I had expressly picked up for the flight, even before the trip has started. There were a lot of reviews on the web mentioning that this book is slow, so I didn’t really expect to finish it within 3 days –…

The Countess

It’s been a long time since I read a proper gothic historical romance novel. There, I have managed to fit 3 genres into one sentence! But honestly, this is a book that ticks all the 3 boxes above. This is also the first time I am reading anything by Catherine Coulter. My first impression –…

Peony in Love

Peony in Love is an example of awe-inspiring yet utterly readable historical fiction/mythology. It is based in 16-17th century China just after the downfall of the Ming dynasty after their defeat by the Manchu invaders. On the face of it, Peony in Love is about the 16-year-old heroine Peony who falls in love with a…

The Movie Poster

Love in the Time of Cholera

Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez narrates the love triangle between Fermina Daza, Florentino Ariza, and Juvenal Urbino. Enduring for fifty years, their love is revealed through a flashback from childhood to old age. As children, Fermina and Florentino have a brief…

The Given Day

The New York Times calls this book Wrenchingly masterful…a majestic fiery epic. I would not quite agree all the way. This book is an ambitious piece of work that tries to capture a slice of Americana, but there were some flaws that make it fall a little short. This novel is set at the end…