The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India [Hardcover]

John Speed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2006

India, 1657.
When Maya, a graceful, young temple dancer with a mysterious past, is sold into slavery, she enters a world of intrigue, violence, and forbidden love. Bought by a Portuguese trader and sold as a concubine to the dissolute vizier of Bijapur, she embarks on a treacherous journey.
In a caravan led by the dangerous settlement man Da Gama, she travels by elephant on the hostile road to Bijapur, joined by Geraldo, a Portuguese adventurer, and Pathan, a handsome prince who carries a dark secret. Together with Lucinda, a beautiful, spoiled young Goan heiress, and the manipulative eunuch Slipper, they climb the windswept mountain road through the Western Ghats.
When their caravan is attacked by bandits, the travelers' lives are turned upside down. In the aftermath, Maya and Lucinda suddenly find themselves stranded in a strange, exotic world, a world filled with passion, romance, and deception, pure love and lurking evil, where nothing is as it seems and the two women are faced with great temptation as well as heart-wrenching decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.
Greed, politics, commitment, courage, love, and intolerance mesh to form a vibrant Indian tapestry. With spectacular settings, unforgettable characters, fierce sensuality, and intense scholarship, this adventure-packed novel marks the debut of an exciting new storyteller.
The Temple Dancer is the first volume of John Speed's Indian trilogy, a three-book journey that will cover the final years of the Mogul Empire and the rise of the Marathis under the highwayman Shivaji. It will leave you breathlessly awaiting his next novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A melange of creatively imagined characters populates Speed's first novel (the first installment of a proposed trilogy), an entertaining historical saga that takes place in 17th-century India. At the center of the story is Maya, a Hindi slave who is being transported across dangerous terrain by a caravan of Portuguese settlers that includes the aging adventurer Da Gama and Lucinda, a spoiled but sensitive young woman. The most intriguing traveler is Slipper, a Muslim eunuch whose relationship to Maya serves as one of the driving mysteries of the novel. The fast-paced story benefits from intriguing characters and situations twisted just enough to keep them on the safe side of unbelievable. Though the story is sometimes beset by overexplanation and cartoonishly violent episodes, it's driven by a contagious enthusiasm for the people and places encountered throughout the journey. Speed, a longtime scholar of Indian history, takes more care with plot and cultural color than dialogue and style, but the result is an enjoyable adventure that still has respect for its characters. (Aug. 31)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Renowned historian Speed conducts an exciting tour of seventeenth-century India. Lavish and lush, this mesmerizing novel wends its way across the exotic Indian landscape as Maya, a dazzling temple dancer bought by a savvy Portuguese businessman as a politically expedient gift for the grand vizier of Bijapur, is transported via caravan to her new master. Of course, the road to Bijapur is not a smooth one, and Maya and her escorts face a new danger around every bend. Chock-full of sex, suspense, and peril, this high-voltage adventure yarn will rapidly transport willing readers to a vanished time and place. The initial volume in a projected trilogy, this installment will leave readers craving more. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (August 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312325487
• ISBN-13: 978-0312325480
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,613,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Speed began studying Indian history, art, and religion while still in high school. For more than thirty years, his explorations deepened as he became absorbed in tales of the fall of the Mogul Empire and of the rise of the rebel prince Shivaji. During his many visits to India, he has stood on crumbling battlements, crawled through lightless caves, bathed in sacred rivers, wandered through forgotten gardens, prayed at old mosques and ancient temples, joined in night-long kirtans and qwalis, cheered on ecstatic temple dancers, and laid his head at the feet of hundreds of saints both living and dead, Hindus and Muslims. Speed is a freelance political consultant and journalist who cofounded a successful on-line newspaper. He now lives with his dogs in a very small house overlooking Swami's Beach in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California. The Temple Dancer is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put it Down, February 9, 2007

By 

SweetHappyLife-com "SweetHappyLife-com" (VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India (Hardcover)

I never thought I would say this but John Speed now rivals Philippa Gregory as one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. Set in India in the year 1657, "The Temple Dancer" is a riveting tale of two women: Lucinda Desana, a beautiful Goan heiress; and Maya, a devadasi (temple dancer) who is bought by Lucinda's family and sold as a concubine. They meet in Goa and travel through the Western Ghats by elephant, each heading towards a fate that has changed by the time their journey has ended. Escorted by a dangerous man with a reputation for violence, a conniving eunuch, a cold-hearted businessman and a mysterious prince, their story is filled with intrigue, adventure, sensuality and forbidden love. Indeed, I lost many hours of sleep because I simply had to find out what Speed's exotic collection of characters were going to do next. His immense knowledge of Indian history and culture transforms them into vibrant people who inhabit an unforgettable world. The back cover of this book says that Speed has studied Indian history, art and religion for over thirty-years and I believe it. I can hardly wait for the next two books in this planned trilogy.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adventure, romance, intrigue and exotic sex, September 6, 2006

By 

Nemo Noman "Nemo!" (Rock Hill, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India (Hardcover)

A friend told me that if I liked Shogun, I'd like The Temple Dancer.

My friend was right: The Temple Dancer is a classic: A historical novel that kept me turning pages by the bedlamp long after I should have gone to sleep.

This story is epic in scale: wide, rambling, and dense with plot driven by richly drawn characters who grow more complex with each chapter.

Maya, the Temple Dancer, is a wonderful mix of innocence and eroticism, a slave being used as a pawn in a business deal between a fading Portuguese trading house and the new Sultan of Bijapur. She's paired with Lucinda, a flightly Portuguese heiress, and Slipper - an unctuous, duplicitous eunuch -traveling by elephant through central India in 1657, a time of turmoil and treachery.

Of course, handsome guards join the caravan, and of course there are bandits, and poison, and langourous evenings at lake palaces, and passionate meetings in jasmine-scented gardens under the moonlight, and elephants, and daring escapes, etc., etc.

Like the jacket quotes say: it's an ocean of a story...Errol Flynn meets Bollywood.

Unlike most modern historicals, which frankly are pretty thin gruel, this book delivers adventure on an epic scale -- great passions driving headlong against each other, and a young, innocent woman caught in the middle.

The author's descriptions were so vivid, with such sensory impact I became lost in his depiction of that fascinating time and place.

All in all, pretty cool.

I've already lent this book out, and I can scarcely wait to get it back so I can re-read some of my favorite parts (the elephant's death, in particular).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exotic, exciting, enticing pageturner, August 23, 2006

By 

Marybeth Robb (Beijing,. China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Temple Dancer: A Novel of India (Hardcover)

What a story! The beach melted away as I was transported to 17th century India on the carpet of this extravagant story. Speed is quite a story teller--the section about the fall of the elephant still has my head spinning--and is the perfect antidote for the end of summer doldrums. One warning, Speed takes a few dozen pages to get warmed up, set the stage, introduce the characters, but then his tale takes off like a rocket. Interlaced with this intricate story is a lot of historical and cultural detail, which Speed feeds you like a sweet ice between courses--tastes great, complements the next dish, and makes you feel virtuous because it doesn't have any fat.

A truly enjoyable read!