Caravan - Softcover

Gilman, Dorothy

4.03

1,568 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 044922175X ISBN 13: 9780449221754

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1993

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"A lushly romantic adventure story set in the North African desert in 1914, told by the impeccable Lady Treal as she reminisces in her London town house about her decidedly peccable past...Well-written, expertly plotted, perfectly paced."
NEWSDAY
With her anthropologist husband murdered and their caravan stolen by fierce Tuareg tribesmen, Caressa's choices are death or a life of slavery. Concealing her dangerous beauty beneath the faded robes of an Arab boy, she embarks on the adventrue of her life, harassed by vicious nomads, slave traders and the envious witch doctor, Isa. Only a handful of carnival magic tricks stand between her and oblivion. Then she discovers an inner magic so mysteriously compelling that the desert people call her a sorceress. With it she will secure her freedom and discover the love of her life....

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About the Author:

Dorothy Gilman (1923–2012) was the author of 14 Mrs. Pollifax novels, including The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, the series debut; Mrs. Pollifax Pursued; Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer; Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist; and Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled. She was also the author of many other novels, among them Thale’s Folly.

From Kirkus Reviews:

In another departure (Incident at Badamya, 1989, etc.) from the author's Mrs. Pollifax mystery series, an exotic background again takes a leading role--this time, a role shared by 16-year-old Caressa Horvath. The time is pre-WW I, and Caressa--a budding beauty, daughter of a struggling carnival family, expert juggler, and pickpocket-- has been sent with hard-saved money to a private school in Boston, to satisfy the mother who's determined to make a lady of her. Ever impoverished, Caressa makes an ill-judged attempt at theft that introduces her to wealthy linguist-anthropologist Jacob Bowman. He marries her, and soon after they leave on an exploratory mission to Africa--first to Tripoli, then across the Sahara. The expedition, through hostile Tuareg country, ends in disaster; but it's only a beginning for Caressa, taken captive, who will spend the next harrowing years fighting to survive enemies and the desert; finding friends; finding love--only to discover betrayal on her return to civilization. As her chronicle unfolds from the vantage of great old age, the reader will experience a land and an era brought to teeming life; share Caressa's highs and lows; and exult with her when the last laugh is hers. Gilman's best--and a tribute to the artful power of simple, old-fashioned storytelling in the hands of a master. -- Copyright �1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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