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The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India (Novels of India), by John Speed
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India, 1657.
When Maya, a graceful, young temple dancer with a mysterious past, is sold into slavery, she enters a world of intrigue, violence, and forbidden love. Bought by a Portuguese trader and sold as a concubine to the dissolute vizier of Bijapur, she embarks on a treacherous journey.
In a caravan led by the dangerous settlement man Da Gama, she travels by elephant on the hostile road to Bijapur, joined by Geraldo, a Portuguese adventurer, and Pathan, a handsome prince who carries a dark secret. Together with Lucinda, a beautiful, spoiled young Goan heiress, and the manipulative eunuch Slipper, they climb the windswept mountain road through the Western Ghats.
When their caravan is attacked by bandits, the travelers' lives are turned upside down. In the aftermath, Maya and Lucinda suddenly find themselves stranded in a strange, exotic world, a world filled with passion, romance, and deception, pure love and lurking evil, where nothing is as it seems and the two women are faced with great temptation as well as heart-wrenching decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.
Greed, politics, commitment, courage, love, and intolerance mesh to form a vibrant Indian tapestry. With spectacular settings, unforgettable characters, fierce sensuality, and intense scholarship, this adventure-packed novel marks the debut of an exciting new storyteller.
The Temple Dancer is the first volume of John Speed's Indian trilogy, a three-book journey that will cover the final years of the Mogul Empire and the rise of the Marathis under the highwayman Shivaji. It will leave you breathlessly awaiting his next novel.
- Sales Rank: #2493618 in Books
- Published on: 2007-07-24
- Released on: 2007-07-24
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.39" h x 1.12" w x 5.45" l,
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 416 pages
From Publishers Weekly
A melange of creatively imagined characters populates Speed's first novel (the first installment of a proposed trilogy), an entertaining historical saga that takes place in 17th-century India. At the center of the story is Maya, a Hindi slave who is being transported across dangerous terrain by a caravan of Portuguese settlers that includes the aging adventurer Da Gama and Lucinda, a spoiled but sensitive young woman. The most intriguing traveler is Slipper, a Muslim eunuch whose relationship to Maya serves as one of the driving mysteries of the novel. The fast-paced story benefits from intriguing characters and situations twisted just enough to keep them on the safe side of unbelievable. Though the story is sometimes beset by overexplanation and cartoonishly violent episodes, it's driven by a contagious enthusiasm for the people and places encountered throughout the journey. Speed, a longtime scholar of Indian history, takes more care with plot and cultural color than dialogue and style, but the result is an enjoyable adventure that still has respect for its characters. (Aug. 31)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Renowned historian Speed conducts an exciting tour of seventeenth-century India. Lavish and lush, this mesmerizing novel wends its way across the exotic Indian landscape as Maya, a dazzling temple dancer bought by a savvy Portuguese businessman as a politically expedient gift for the grand vizier of Bijapur, is transported via caravan to her new master. Of course, the road to Bijapur is not a smooth one, and Maya and her escorts face a new danger around every bend. Chock-full of sex, suspense, and peril, this high-voltage adventure yarn will rapidly transport willing readers to a vanished time and place. The initial volume in a projected trilogy, this installment will leave readers craving more. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Speed conducts a dazzling tour of seventeenth-century India. Lavish and lush . . . mesmerizing . . . Chock-full of sex, suspense, and peril, this high-voltage adventure yarn will rapidly transport willing readers to vanished time and place. [It] will leave readers craving more."---Booklist
"The fast-paced story benefits from intriguing characters and situations twisted just enough to keep them on the safe side of unbelievable . . . it's driven by a contagious enthusiasm for the people and places encountered throughout the journey . . . an enjoyable adventure that still has respect for its characters."---Publishers Weekly
"A richly atmospheric debut." ---Kirkus Reviews
". . . an absorbing adventure and love story . . . fast-paced and suspenseful."
---About.com
"The Temple Dancer sweeps the reader into an age of passion and danger, romance, chivalry, and high adventure---an age when a bandit could defy an emperor and a dancing girl change the course of history. Set against the rich backdrop of Moghul India, The Temple Dancer's combination of history, intrigue, and forbidden love should appeal to anyone who loves M. M. Kaye's The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon. In fact, it should appeal to anyone who loves a story that will totally intrigue them."
---India Edghill, author of Queenmaker and Wisdom's Daughter
"What an adventure! Two women, utterly different in culture and outlook, travel across seventeenth century India on elephant back and discover, in the face of betrayal, that they have a great deal more in common than they ever suspected. Beautifully researched, this novel has it all: heroes adept with sword and pistol, bold and independent heroines, corrupt rulers, treacherous eunuchs, slippery merchants, and bloodthirsty banditti. The author stirs them all together with a handsome dose of conspiracy, mysticism, and sensuality to create a splendid entertainment in the grand style. --Judith Merkle Riley, author of A Vision of Light, The Oracle Glass, The Master of All Desires, and The Water Devil "The Temple Dancer is an ocean of a story, filled with adventure, passion, and heartbreak. It's compulsively readable and everything you want in a novel."
---Michael Swanwick, author of Bones of the Earth
"The Temple Dancer is a lush, loopy, multicultural epic set in seventeenth-century India, like the cockeyed marriage of a Bollywood musical and an Errol Flynn/Olivia de Havilland movie, well-researched, playfully written, and highly entertaining."
---Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters and Lives of the Circus Animals
"The Temple Dancer is what reading is all about. This book upholds true literature, which is . . . the beauty of language. There is a wonderful world here full of enchantment and nourishment."
---Daniel Ladinsky, translator of The Gift and I Heard God Laughing
Most helpful customer reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Couldn't Put it Down
By VTS
I never thought I would say this but John Speed now rivals Philippa Gregory as one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. Set in India in the year 1657, "The Temple Dancer" is a riveting tale of two women: Lucinda Desana, a beautiful Goan heiress; and Maya, a devadasi (temple dancer) who is bought by Lucinda's family and sold as a concubine. They meet in Goa and travel through the Western Ghats by elephant, each heading towards a fate that has changed by the time their journey has ended. Escorted by a dangerous man with a reputation for violence, a conniving eunuch, a cold-hearted businessman and a mysterious prince, their story is filled with intrigue, adventure, sensuality and forbidden love. Indeed, I lost many hours of sleep because I simply had to find out what Speed's exotic collection of characters were going to do next. His immense knowledge of Indian history and culture transforms them into vibrant people who inhabit an unforgettable world. The back cover of this book says that Speed has studied Indian history, art and religion for over thirty-years and I believe it. I can hardly wait for the next two books in this planned trilogy.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Exotic, exciting, enticing pageturner
By Marybeth Robb
What a story! The beach melted away as I was transported to 17th century India on the carpet of this extravagant story. Speed is quite a story teller--the section about the fall of the elephant still has my head spinning--and is the perfect antidote for the end of summer doldrums. One warning, Speed takes a few dozen pages to get warmed up, set the stage, introduce the characters, but then his tale takes off like a rocket. Interlaced with this intricate story is a lot of historical and cultural detail, which Speed feeds you like a sweet ice between courses--tastes great, complements the next dish, and makes you feel virtuous because it doesn't have any fat.
A truly enjoyable read!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Genius!
By rblum
Genius! Pure Genius.
John Speed's The Temple Dancer is not only a modern-day page turner, but it is also a literary work in the classical sense.
Speed's novel is vivid and cinematic in scope. His vibrant descriptions of India during the 1600s bring this historical time and place to life. He transports the reader to a far off past civilization, and we fly there naturally, as though we have just stepped off a jumbo jet and landed in an exotic culture.
Although Speed is a historian, his real brilliance lies in magically creating characters that pop off the page. He does his magic through clever, witty dialog, and through an amazing ability to capture and express subtle nonverbal communication. This is Speed's genius. Like Tolstoy, Speed reveals to us his characters' hidden subconscious thoughts and feelings. Speed's vivid descriptions of the nonverbal - facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures- reveal his characters' inner life, illuminating the reader with elevated awareness. The result is the infusion of life into ink, the birth of complex characters in the reader's mind. The effect is psychedelic.
The plot keeps one on the edge of one's seat, with many twists and turns that propel one to turn the pages. But these twists of fate are not arbitrary or forced. Rather, Speed invokes the Indian law of karma - fate is determined by character - to eventually dole out justice, making for a most natural and satisfying conclusion.
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