The Enchantress of Florence
Ratings14
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings14
Average rating3.8
Discover this magnificent magical novel from the Booker-prize winning author of Midnight's Children. When a young European traveller arrives at Sikri, the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar, the tale he spins brings the whole imperial capital to the brink of obsession. He calls himself 'Mogor dell'Amore', the Mughal of Love, and claims to be the son of a lost princess, whose name and very existence has been erased from the country's history- Qara K z, or 'Lady Black Eyes'. Lady Black Eyes is a fabled beauty believed to possess great powers of enchantment and sorcery. After a series of abductions by besotted warlords, she finds herself carried to Machiavellian Florence. In her attempts to command her own destiny in a world ruled by men, Lady Black Eyes brings together the two great cities of sensual Florence and hedonistic Sikri, so far apart and yet so alike, and two worlds become dangerously entwined. 'Vintage Rushdie...reminds us, in case we may have forgotten, that he can tell a story across East and West better than anyone else in the language' Sunday Telegraph
Reviews with the most likes.
Extraordinary. Just extraordinary. Take the historical settings of Renaissance Florence and the court of the Grand Mughal Emperor Akbar, a good number of historical persons, and tie them together by an extraordinary flight of imagination. Spellbinding. Not all of Rushdie's novels have managed to grip me, but this one was enchanting.
Enchantress of Florence is the story of the life of a Mughal princess who was lost at the time of Babar and how her arrival after two generations changes the fate of a city made by wealthiest emperor of Hindustan, Akbar. A handsome foreigner arrives at the darbar of Akbar, pausing as the messenger of Queen of England, murdering the real messenger on the way. The reason for his arrival is to tell a tale... of the beautiful Mughal princess and a Turk warrior of Italian origin (It seems Rushdie has an obsession depicting people with a multiple cultural background) spanning a hundred years and three continents. And through the tale, the princess comes alive... As in Midnight's children, Rushdie weaves the story by using fictional and real characters, like Akbar, Amerigo Vespucci, Birbal and Thansen... And another queer depiction is of the fictional queen, Jodhabai, a figment of imagination of Akbar, who lives as a shadow in the palace of Fatehpur Sikri, respected and envied by all, including the other queens (real of course) till the other princess, Qara Koz, comes alive in the Emperor's imagination dethroning Jodha.
A beautifully written book, but I found it incredibly dull and a struggle to get through...
