Product Description

"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....


From the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #477180 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03-01
• Released on: 1995-03-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 8.50" h x .50" w x 5.50" l, .69 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The author of the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries applies her talents to romance and danger in this entertaining tale of a young American woman's unexpected adventures in Africa during the early years of WW I. Raised in a circus by her widowed mother (the headless woman) and fortune-telling Grams, who teaches her to juggle and pick pockets, Caressa Horvath is sent to a Boston finishing school, which she leaves after she is caught lifting the wallet of world traveler Jacob Bowman. Capturing his heart, she marries him shortly before they embark for Tripoli, where they assemble a caravan and set off into the Sahara. They are attacked by fierce nomad Tuareg bandits, who kill everyone except Caressa because they fear her wooden finger puppets, made by Grams. A credible series of mishaps, trials and moments of courage keep Caressa alive as she and Bakuli, a captured Zambian youth, escape into the desert. Eventually they are taken as slaves; after helping Bakuli run away to freedom, Caressa is bought by a man who turns out to be a Scottish adventurer--and the love of her life. Encompassing betrayal, treachery, sorrow, heroism and ultimately reunion, Caressa's first-person story, begun in 1980 in order to inform her granddaughter of her background, offers sheer reading pleasure.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Born into a carnival family at the turn of the 20th century, 16-year-old Caressa Horvath finds her life taking a dramatic turn when she attempts to rob Jacob Bowman, a rich, eccentric anthropologist 20 years her senior. Nothing daunted by their unconventional introduction, he marries her, and they travel to Tripoli to explore the Sahara Desert. Nomadic Tuaregs attack their caravan but spare Caressa's life, launching her three-year adventure in the desert, where she befriends a young boy named Bakuli, gets sold into slavery, and eventually meets her great love, a wandering Scotsman named Jared MacKay. Gilman, noted for her Mrs. Pollifax mysteries, takes a slightly different direction here, producing a lively, satisfying novel of adventure, danger, and romance. A good choice for most popular fiction collections.
- Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
When you find yourself counting the tapes, rationing your listening time and praying that you'll never come to the end, you know you're hearing something special. Gilman takes her young heroine from the refined atmosphere of Boston to the terrors of the African desert, and the listener is with her through every word. Alexander will remind you of the few great storytellers from your youth who told tales without imposing their personalities upon your imagination. This is curled-up-on-the-sofa dreaming and escaping--and a wonderful experience. J.P. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine