Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence

Salman Rushdie ' s new novel begins when a charismatic Florentine adventurer arrives at the Mughal court of Akbar the Great claiming to have a story which he must tell to the Emperor whom, he insists, is his nephew. This claim of kinship seems implausible, but Akbar ' s older relatives concede that there is a family secret involving a pale-skinned, mythically beautiful princess named Qara K z, who was born 100 years earlier and was known to have lived in Italy.

The Florentine, who boasts the pseudonym ' Mogor dell ' Amore '(or ' Mughal of Love ' ), then weaves a tale of magic which begins with three childhood friends and eventually brings together two great civilisations. The friends (one of whom is Niccol Machiavelli) are desperate for power and women; the most daring of them, Argalia, takes to the seas, and fights battles in the pay of the Turks. In one encounter he defeats Shah Ismail of Persia and wins a princess, Qara K z . Love blooms and a triumphant return to Florence with Qara K z caps his life but his prize soon causes trouble amongst some of the local men who are captivated by her beauty. But this tale prompts one important question: since it happened almost a century ago, how can the youthful Mogor dell ' Amore be Qara K z ' s son and, therefore, Akbar ' s uncle?

The Enchantress of Florence blends history and fantasy. The real Akbar (1542-1605) was a ruler famed for his religious tolerance but also a man capable of the most excessive fantasies: for example he conjured his favourite wife, Jodha, from his imagination into reality to rival the presence, again from out of his imagination, of Qara K z. His (Akbar ' s) and our ability to create fact from desire is a constant theme in this novel. One has to laugh at the absurdity of all this, but it is worth reflecting that none of it is more absurd than the things which many accept as factual today. ' The Enchantress of Florence 'reminds us that, when it comes to supernatural occurrences, ' fantasy 'and ' history 'can share the common border of truth. Rushdie ' s ambitious, complex novel is not for the faint-hearted but is worth its place on the Man Booker long list.