Customer Reviews

Begums, Thugs, and White Mughals: The Journals of Fanny Parkes (v. 8)

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A rare and delightful travelogue......

Fanny Parkes should be ever grateful to William Dalrymple for rediscovering and bringing out her 'unique and wonderful' travelogue on India - the long-titled " Wanderings of a Pilgrim in search of the Pictureseque, During four and twenty years in the East; with revelations of Life in the Zenana" originally published in 1850 by Pelham Richardson.....yet once again to the world at large.

It is 'unique' because Fanny Parkes is at once an observant, fluent, compassionate, intelligent and fairly without prejudice as a travel writer in the mid 19th century when British arrogance on the colonised peoples colored almost all printed material written in the english language. This book is one rare exception. Its 'wonderful', because the writing style of Parkes is amazingly contemporary and unless one is reminded, it would be impossible to guess that these journals were written almost 175 years ago. Her observations cover almost all aspects of a European living and travelling in 1820's in India.

Her journal is like a rare encyclopedia on all things Indian and peppered with thousands of anecdotes on all the nuances and nuggets of daily life.

One of the most enjoyable and priceless books....

A very well written book...as are all books by this author! Takes you back to another place, another time!
Highly recommend it!