Olivier Jacques Jacques itibaren Meillac, France itibaren Meillac, France

A man arrives from Florence with a story for only emporer Akbar's ears. He is a magician of sorts, knows all sorts of things. Emporer Akbar has an imaginary mistress who his wives are jealous of. He also has democratic tendencies and really dislikes his sons whom he thinks will overthrow him some day. The man from Florence stays with two whores (Mattress, Skeleton). There's a lost princess who may be the man's mother/grandmother and she's beautiful and has a look-alike maidservant. The story is spent hearing pieces of the man's story and trying to sort out whether he's related or not. Themes: magical vs. real, whorehouse, democratic tendencies of Akbar, lost princess's ability to make the city great I'm glad I read this book, though I was surprised how different it was from other Rushdie. I love the mix of magical with the real, the setting is wonderful and fun, but some of the prose was very self-indulgent.