THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE; A Novel by Salman Rushdie

London: Jonathan Cape, 2008. First Edition, First Printing. Cloth. Like New/Like New. SIGNED by the Author on the title page, tall 8vo, black cloth with gold lettering on spine, archival mylar-protected pictorial dust jacket (unclipped) with Mugal loving couple picture insert, Foyle's Signed First Edition red sticker; pictorial endpapers, 359 pages. An excellent historical tale told by a master & winner of the prestigious Booker Prize and author of The Satanic Verses. The Enchantress of Florence is his ninth novel and, according to Rushdie, this is his "most researched book" which required "years and years of reading."<br /> <br /> The central theme of The Enchantress of Florence is the visit of a European to the Mughal emperor Akbar's court and his claim that he is a long lost relative of Akbar, born of an exiled Indian princess and an Italian from Florence. The story moves between continents, the court of Akbar to Renaissance Florence mixing history, fantasy and fable.<br /> <br /> Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie FRSL (born 1947) is a British Indian novelist and essayist. His second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981. He combines magical realism with historical fiction often dealing with disruptions between Eastern and Western civilizations. His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), was the subject of a major controversy and led to a fatwah and recent near-deadly attack.<br /> <br /> SIGNED & Exceptionally Fine internally and externally. No previous owner or remainder marks.