Skip to main content

Book Review: Merlin’s Keep by Madeleine Brent

Jani only knows one person in her life while sustaining a harsh life in the adverse terrains of Tibet. And that person is Sembur. They both live far-off from the civilized world for more than one reason. Sembur isn’t her father but a well-wisher kind of guardian. Without getting the hints of change, they encounter a young but arrogant army captain from Ghurkha Rifles. To Jani that captain sounds like a Mister, so she addresses him Mister. The captain is seeking a person wanted for murder ten years ago. And that wanted person or criminal is none other than Sembur. However, while descending towards the plains of the colonized India, they all struggle against the odds of the Himalayan winteriness. Sembur dies of heart problems, leaving the captain to take care of the girl who soon becomes sick with diphtheria.


By implementing great courage and patience, the captain manages to save the girl from the obstructing mountainous hardships and sends the girl in a hospital in Gorakhpur. After recovering she is sent to the Army Widows and Orphans Society in England, with a new name of Jane Burr – daughter of Sembur. After five years, Jani is taken as a protégé of Eleanor Lambert in Merlin’s Keep, where Jani is both companion and secretary to her. They both have strong affection and deeply care for each other. When Eleanor goes for vacation she returns married with a silver guy, who practices black magic on her. And Jani discovering that resumes her struggle to save Eleanor from the hands of the Soul Eater – the silver man.

However when she is alone in the home, one day she discovers a letter written by Sembur which explains about her birth details, the history of her parents as well their deaths. She discovers that her mother was an Indian maharani and her father an English colonel. They were the crown holder of Jahanapur, an Indian state. Thus, she is half caste and also entitled to that princely state. The letter also proves that Sembur was not the person behind their deaths hence he should be absolved. She also begins her search for the army captain who once had saved her life.  

In the end, Jani, who prominently struggles a lot to make her living but saves her friend from the soul eater, emerges as the princess of an Indian province. She gets her deserved love too, and the story sees a happy ending! It’s a good and smooth read, like a fairytale.

Unlike Arthurian or medieval romance, the book has to tell a tale about ‘gothic-kind’ of love story, truly gripping and so true like a childish dream, innocent yet pure. Another surprise is that Madeleine Brent is a pen name; the original name of the author is Peter O’ Donnell. 
Labels:
Location: New Delhi, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversatio...
65 comments
Read more

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should ...
68 comments
Read more

Character Sketch of Binya from ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a popular children’s story. It features Binya as the main character, though there are other important characters as well, but the story revolves around Binya and her little beautiful umbrella. The story is widely popular among children, thus it has also been included in the schools’ syllabus all across the country. Since it is often taught in the school, thus the character sketch of Binya is often demanded by students from year to year. Character Sketch of Binya from The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond Binya is the main character of the novel ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond. Her full name is Binyadevi. As in the hills or anywhere in India it is a kind of trend to call children with their short nicknames. Binya’s elder brother’s name is Bijju, whereas his real name is Vijay. Binya aged eleven is a hilly girl. She lives with her small family in the hills of Garhwal. Her father died when she was two years of age. For sustenance, the...
41 comments
Read more