If ever a simple love story could make you, unexpectedly, hate all tyrants and crafty unprincipled politicians with all your heart, that is Camila (1984), a film by María Luisa Bemberg.


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Spanish historical fiction has been unfamiliar to me - until recently. I have found La Diamantista de la Emperatriz (2008) by Pilar de Arístegui. An interesting read!

( A curious fact about the author )

In our practical times, I've heard people question the necessity of literary criticism. To such folks, I would recommend books like Deborah Epstein Nord's Gypsies and the British Imagination, 1807-1930. It is as exciting as any popular blockbuster, but gives you much food for thought.

The politically correct word is Romany, but the author uses the ( Read more... )

Didn’t particularly want to write of this, but since it’s about Elizabeth, I thought I should. (Come to that, I’ve reported worse things in my blog…)

The Virgin’s Lover is Philippa Gregory’s novel about the love triangle ‘the Queen - Robert Dudley - his wife Amy’. It covers the first two years of Elizabeth’s reign, and with more than 400 pages it’s ( Read more... )

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A Folly of Princes, Nigel Tranter’s novel (the second book in his Stewart trilogy), offers a look into the early 14th century Scotland. It tells us about the founding of the Stewart dynasty, and the events of the subject book start exactly with the coronation of Robert III, second Stewart King.

Robert III is a learned and kind man, but no more apt ( Read more... )