The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

4 Toots of my horn!!!

• Salman Rushdie is a big name in lit
• He was married to Padma (of Top Chef fame)
• The book is an excellent mini-history of Florence and of the Mughal Empire (historically accurate)
• I love magical realism

Interesting bits:

• The whole thing is fantastic. I love this book!
• I caught references to By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept and to Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels (bit about "my one sovereign life...") interesting
• View of Savonarola from perspective of the man on the street
  
• mini-history of the Medici family
• one of the main characters is Machiavelli (of The Prince fame)

This is amazing. What I really loved about this book is the holistic view of world history in that time period. I was already aware of all of the different areas covered (India, Iran, Ottoman Empire, Italy, England, the Americas) with at least a basic level of familiarity with the main events occurring at that time, late 1400s through late 1500s, but I had never combined them in my mind the way that a ruler at the time must have.

The magical realism crops up in the person of Lady Black Eyes, the Enchantress of Florence, and her supreme power over men. Also, there is a certain vagueness as to time throughout the book, and a few charming side-anecdotes, such as the Mughal court artist who falls so in love with his subject that he enters a painting. Also, Akbar has created an imaginary wife who has taken on full substance. It's all just fabulous.

I highly recommend this book to anyone! It can best be enjoyed by someone with a basic knowledge of world history, but I think that it would be enjoyable to any thinking person.