Helpful Score: 5
i was intrigued by the blurbs on the cover,so i bought it and i am glad that i did.
this book is dark much of the time.set in the back alleys of the Jewish quarter and then it is also set in the beautiful home of the Shah. this book is filled with intrigue,violence and lost opportunities.
it is very well done and i would read it again one day
this book is dark much of the time.set in the back alleys of the Jewish quarter and then it is also set in the beautiful home of the Shah. this book is filled with intrigue,violence and lost opportunities.
it is very well done and i would read it again one day
Helpful Score: 4
This was an interesting look into a harem.. it followed 3 generations of women a mother, her daughter and granddaughter.... it wasn't as good as I thought it would be but it was definetly a worthy read.
Helpful Score: 2
Dora Levy Mossanen has a similar fantastic style as Isabel Allende (not quite as good as Allende). An unusual novel and a good story.
Helpful Score: 2
This was a fun read. A sexy and mystical historical novel set in ancient I ran (Persia).
Helpful Score: 2
I've managed to get through half of this book and still can't figure out what it is supposed to be about, other than the page after page of porn-like sexual escapades. Maybe I'm just not in the mood, but there is no redeeming qualities for this one. I usually like historical fiction, but, oh well, hopefully someone else wants this.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good book. Not at all smutty as the title would suggest
Helpful Score: 1
Lush and erotic, this first novel overflows with the magic and sensuality of Arabian Nights tales, 19th-century orientalist paintings and languorous, silken-pantalooned harem beauties. Set in 14th-century Persia, the tale moves easily between the crowded, garbage-strewn alleys of the Jewish quarter and the magnificent palace of the shah. The shah's palace harem is concealed behind a tracery of delicately carved stone panels, where his 365 wives and their many attendant eunuchs lounge, and the queen mother, Bibi Sultana, rules. In the Jewish quarter, the characters are Rebekah, the indomitable heroine; the ancient Zoroastrian, a seeress; the one-eyed rabbi; the merchant Rouh'Allah, who realizes nearly too late he loves Rebekah; and Moses, fated to be gelded and become a lover to the shah. Rebekah is only 10 when she's married to Jacob the Fatherless, a brutal blacksmith, and branded by him with a hot iron bar between her breasts, a mark that will assume nearly supernatural importance. After Jacob commits suicide, Rebekah becomes a prostitute to support her child, Gold Dust. Determined to place her daughter within the harem, she sells her charms to Narcissus, the chief eunuch, even though he carries "his manhood pickled in a jar." Gold Dust becomes the shah's favorite, but provides the sonless ruler with another daughter, Raven, who will eventually be as implacable as her grandmother. The multifaceted story involves an invasion by the Mongol hordes under Teymour the Lame (Tamerlane) and daring escapes by Rebekah and Gold Dust. Shamelessly exotic, it's a delightful read and a grandly romantic escapade.
I actually read this book quite some time ago. I remember it being very engrossing and I lerned things I never knew about Persia.
