Madhulika Liddle - Crimson City

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Delhi has turned into a Sin City. First, a cloth merchant, Aadil, has been brutally murdered for no apparent reason.  He had no enmity with anyone.  His stock of expensive cloth has been mauled but not stolen.  His clerk, Suraj Bhan, is puzzled over the sudden murder of his boss. Then, the family next door to Aadil suffers a similar misfortune.

As usual, Muzaffar is intrigued by the murders and rushes in to help.  He is brought up short by his brother-in-law, Khan Sahib, the kotwal of Delhi.  He is asked not to interfere in no uncertain terms. Muzaffar is pained by this edict and he tries not to meddle with the course of law.  But things keep happening right in his path and he cannot just look away.

Our beloved Muzaffar is now happily married to Shireen.  A partner more perfect than Shireen would be hard to find.  He should be enjoying domestic bliss in peace.  But he cannot help being in the eye of the storm.  Far from resenting his preoccupation with crime, Shireen encourages him and even helps him.

Will Muzaffar be able to figure out who is committing the spate of crimes?  Will he be able to mend fences with Khan Saheb?

The new Muzaffar Jang mystery is engrossing.  What makes it all the more interesting is the era it is set in.  This is Shah Jahan's Dilli. We are led through bazaars and darwazas that are still familiar to us.  Little bits of historical information is slipped in to make the book rich in detail.

I was glad to see all the old characters here, Akram is my favorite. He is Muzaffar's cousin.  He is a dandy nawab and utterly lovable. There were plenty of new characters who are equally interesting. Suraj Bhan, Aadil's clerk is one.  Ameena bibi, the servant of the family that lives next door to Aadil, is another.  Then there is Nilofer Begum.  Is she just the wife of a merchant or something more?

There were just two little bumps in the story.  The author pauses a couple of times to put in a historical detail.  When the story is trotting along at a quick pace, a pause for a historical detail trips up the narrative.  

The story moves at a brisk pace.  The detailing is magnificent.  I just love Muzaffar Jang and cannot have enough of him.  I am already waiting eagerly for the next.

Erica Jong - Sappho's Leap

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Sappho lived in Lesbos, Greece in 320 BCE and precious little is known about her life.  Very little of her work has survived.  Most of her poems come down to us in fragments, bits of papyrus that survived somehow the ravages of time.  Whatever that has survived, however, has amazed many of the poetry aficionados of this era.

stars around the beautiful moon

hide back  their luminous form

whenever all full she shines

on the earth

silvery

-translated by Anne Carson in If not, winter

SAPPHO

Precious little is known about the life of Sappho.  What survives from all those ages ago is more legend than certified truth.  Erica Jong calls it a blessing, as it allows her to weave a story more imaginatively.

In her tale, Sappho is the daughter of a soldier, Scamandronymus and Cleis.  She has three younger brothers, all fine lads.  Her father dies in a battle when Sappho is still a child.  Her mother becomes the mistress of Pittacus, their ruler.

When grown, Sappho finds love in the arms of Alcaeus, a poet philosopher and a soldier who has lost favor with Pittacus.  Sappho runs away with him, but is brought back and married to an older man.  Her mother says it will keep her safe.  A rich older man will not worry her much for sex and be pliant to her wishes.  Sappho finds herself pregnant and is sure that the child is Alcaeus's.

Sappho has a merry time in Syracuse with her husband, enjoying riches and freedom.  She is very attached to her slave Praxinoa and often makes love to her, to compensate for her loveless marriage.
She is sought after greatly as a poetess and performs often at symposia.

Her husband's death jolts her out of her complacency and she finds all the riches slipping away from her hands.  She follows her brothers to Egypt along with Praxinoa.  There she meets and befriends Aesop who is famed at coining fables.

In short, she meets every famous name of her day.

Erica Jong also has her go on a very Odysseus like journey, fraught with dangers and visits to islands filled with fantastic people, centaurs, amazons, snake goddesses etc.

It is this part of the book that made me weary.  An account of Sappho's everyday life is lovely.  When Sappho returns from her journey back to Lesbos, the island of her birth, the story becomes a little better.  

I found the first few chapters quite engrossing and unputdownable. The later parts not so much.

If you want to read Sappho's poetry, the best place to look is Anne Carson's translations of her fragments, "If not, Winter".  They are simply fabulous.  Anne Carson does not try to embellish or interpret the fragments into something more.  She is lyrical and faithful to the original.

Kiran Manral - All Aboard

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Kiran Manral serves up this frothy holiday romance with panache.

Rhea has just been jilted at the alter by Samir.  Her fiance bailed out and ran off with a young thing, leaving her heartbroken and tending to the mundane jobs like cancellataions and refunds.

Rhea's aunt,  Rina has also been ditched.  She was to go on a Mediterranean cruise with her friend who fell sick at the last minute.   Rhea was the best choice to fill in the gap.  This is why Rhea and Rina are now on a lovely cruise through the Mediterranean sea.

On the cruise, Rhea barely gets time to cry over her stalled wedding and broken heart.  Rina Maasi has run into an ex-student of hers, Kamal Shahni.  Rhea finds herself torn between indulging in a sinful holiday romance and also trying not do anything too silly on a rebound from Samir.

What can poor Rhea do? Everywhere she turns she runs into the delectable Kamal.  Kamal does not seem too immunie to Rhea's charms either.

This is a typical romance, a light read.  There are plenty of lovely descriptions of the beautiful places that the cruise takes Rhea through.  Also there is a bit of intrigue in the book to spice things up.

The characters are interesting, Rhea, Kamal, Rina, Naina, Sonia, John, are all well etched.  The story does not stray around much and keeps to its path.

It is a perfect holiday/travel/beach/romance read.

Zeenat Mahal - Haveli

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Chandani was abandoned by her father as a baby and brought up by her aristocratic grandmother after her mother's death.  She is confined to indoors, being home schooled.  Most of her time she is being trained in social graces by her grandmother.  She feels stifled by all this.

Luckily there is the handsome widower Kunwar Rohail Khanzada.  She has been in love with him forever and intends to make him hers, by hook or by crook.  Kunwar is completely oblivious to her, but she is sure she can wear down his defences.  She is beautiful and young.

Just then Taimur enters the picture. Chandani hates him instantly.  He is handsome, she admits, but such arrogance!  They spat with each other and he seems intent on putting her down everytime they have an encounter.  To her horror, everyone around them seems to think Taimur is perfect husband material for her.  She flings away the engagement ring with which the Grandmother, that interfering Broad, tries to announce the engagement between Taimur and her.

Her father turns up again from London, trying to ingratiate himself with the family again.  He has in his tow a most delicious man of perfect manners.  He seems interested in setting up a match between his daughter and this man of his choice.

Zeenat is overcome with emotions at the return of her father.  She is not oblivious to the animosity between him and her grandmother. She realizes that she has to choose between the two men who are vying for her affection.  

Haveli is the perfect light romantic read.  It is witty, well-plotted and well-written.  It had a slightly slow first chapter, after which it did not lag at any point.  There is no meandering, no posturing, no pretending to be anything but a good read.

Perfect.









 

Rachel Renee Russell - Dork Diaries: Drama Queen

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Published by Alladin Paperbacks

Nikki Maxwell is a 14-year-old girl not too sure about herself.  She goes to Westchester Country Day, a private school that her Dad provides bug-exterminating services to.  He has arranged for a scholarship for her.  

She is surrounded by children from a privileged background.  Because of this, she feels like an outcast. The most popular girl in school, Mckenzie Hollister usually singles her out for ridicule. 

She has two best friends, Chloe and Zoey.  In their little world together they are happy.  Nikki has a crush on Brandon Roberts.  He is a certified school hottie.  Even Mckenzie has a crush on him. 

Nikki loves writing about her day to day activities in this diary. The references to her teachers and friends are not always complimentary.  Which is why she is devastated when she loses her diary.  Uh Oh! The password to the online advice column that she writes is also in the diary.

This is a calamity of the first order. Will Nikki survive it?  Will she ever get close to Brandon? Will she ever be rid of Mckenzie?

The book is peppered with sweet illustrations and texts.  It is a perfect read if you want to get into the mind of an early teen.

Daphne Du Maurier - Frenchman's Creek

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When the east wind blow up Helford river the shining waters become troubled and disturbed and the little waves beat angrily upon the sandy shores.

Thus starts the fourth novel by Daphne du Maurier.  The first chapter is a breathtaking description of Navron and the little creek in Navron, Cornwall.  A modern day sailor on a boat in the creek is suddenly disturbed by the visions of a beautiful lady and her French lover.

From here we zoom back into the Restoration period, perhaps 1650.  Dona St. Columb is a celebrated beauty in the court.  She is married to Harry St. Columb and has two little children.  She is an impetuous woman and given to hanging out with her husband and his friends in places of low repute.

Rockingham, her husband's friend,  fancies he can conquer Dona after they share a kiss.  Dona has no intention of following up on the kiss.  After an adventure, she finds herself sickened of the empty London society and on an impulse, takes her children and drives down to Navron, her husband's seat in the country.

Navron is a neglected place.  There is only one servant present, William.  He seems intractable and outspoken.  Dona, sickened of the fawning London society, finds him a refreshing change. Soon, the country house is in order and Dona enjoys the idyllic, lazy life there.  She takes walks around in the garden and plays with the children.

Her peace is soon shattered by the arrival of Lord Godolphin.  He warns her of a French pirate who has been disturbing the peace around here.  He robs the people on this side of the coast and quickly sneaks off to Brittany.  He wants Harry to come down from London and help capture this slippery pirate.

Dona discovers that the pirate has been using her house and anchoring his ship in the little creek close to her property.  She is captured by the pirates as she comes upon their ship in her creek.  She is captivated by their Captain, Jean Aubrey and joins forces with him, helping him rob the hapless rich aristocrats in that area. Aubrey in this for thrills and adventure and Dona St. Columb, bored with her staid life, finds him fascinating.

This is a beautiful novel.  The descriptions of flora and fauna around Navron are detailed exquisitely at every chance the author gets.

Du Maurier is known to set her novels around some wonderful houses. It was Manderley in "Rebecca" and Menabilly (said to be inspired by a real Menabilly) in "The King's General".  A later novel called "The House on the Strand" also has an ancient house that seemed inspired by Menabilly.

The author does not seem too comfortable in the London society scenes, but on her home turf, the great country house, she is in her element.  Whether it is an action scene, describing a pirate attack in a great detail, or life and manners in the country houses, she is perfect.

The novel is a fast-paced thriller.  There is action and a lot of romance.  When Dona St. Columb falls for Jean Aubrey, she does not hold back and they have a full-on affair.  There are captures and hangings and daring escapes and adventures.  Nary a dull moment, we can say.

This novel was adapted into two movies, one starring Joan Fontaine as Dona St. Columb made in 1944.  A later version starring Tara Fitzgerald (1998) departed so much from the novel right at the start, that I abandoned any attempt to view it.

This novel is not as famous at "My Cousin Rachel" or "Rebecca", yet it deserves to be.