On the Shelf

As Dehejia hints, this inquiry into the past is especially enriching today when many have begun bemoaning the deromanticisation of love. But flip through these pages, adorned with carefully collected prints from collections public and private, and the voices and songs of the ages float by. Definitely a volume for both the art connoisseur as well as the casual reader.

PURDAH: AN ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Eunice de Souza
OUP
Price: Rs 595

Women, in different ages and from different cultures, have not needed to be veiled for them to be pushed out of sight. Finding one8217;s self for women in this wideranging collection has meant breaking barriers erected by patriarchy and orthodoxy. Fact and fiction are combined for a valuable resource.

KINGDON OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON
By Isabel Allende
HarperCollins
Price: Rs 295

The Chilean fabulist8217;s forays into children8217;s literature continue. The author of The House of the Spirits picks up the threads of the tale she left hanging in City of the Beasts. Fifteen-year-old Alex and his grandmother now make for the Himalayas to secure for the Forbidden Kingdom its life-affirming spirituality. Bad men are conniving to steal the Golden Dragon for its magical powers in foretelling the future. Be sure that Alex and company have some tricks up their sleeves.