The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann: book review

The Stockholm Octavo (2012) is set in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1789 to 1792, the last years of King Gustav III’s reign. Gustav (1746-1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination. It is after the French Revolution (the Palace of Versailles is ransacked and the fortress, the Bastille, is taken), and Sweden offers assistance to reinstate Louis XVI as King of France.

French-born Mrs. Sofia Sparrow is the owner of well-respected gaming rooms. To gamble there, a personal recommendation is required. Narrator, Emil Larsson, an unwed errand officer in the customs office, gained access in order to make his fortune. Within a year he had enough money to purchase a high-level position of sekretaire in customs. Two years of good fortune led to a perfect life.

But his superior was not happy with Emil’s gambling habits and strongly suggested that he be respectably married to keep his position at work. Then Emil saw the beautiful Carlotta Vingstrom, daughter of a successful wine merchant. Mrs. Sparrow – who is not only proficient at gambling with cards, but also with fortune-telling – has a vision for Emil and for herself. And their fates entwined.

Mrs. Sparrow read Emil’s Octavo fortune tarot cards – Octoavo is ‘a form of divination unique to Mrs. Sparrow’ and only for specially selected people (such as King Gustav). She used an old and mysterious German deck of cards, of which eight were chosen that revealed eight people who would bring about her vision for Emil – an event that would herald a positive transformation, a rebirth. The cards showed Emil how to to make her vision come true – if he finds the real people depicted by the eight cards – his companion, prisoner, teacher, courier, trickster, magpie, prize, and key. To ignore the cards would end in his ruin. Her visions of the King become tragically true, but what of her own and Emil’s?

But there is more than the realization of the cards. Emil has to contend with the loss of Carlotta when her parents send her to Finland, women plotting deceit and trickery to have the most exquisite collection of extravagant hand-made fans, and an assassination plot to kill the King.

Cooling hand-held decorative fans are woven into the narrative – each has a female name – their ‘sole purpose is to bring happiness, beauty, and romance.’ The fans of the aristocrats are not cheap. The most mysterious fan, Cassiopeia, named after the Greek mythological queen who boasted of her unrivalled beauty, becomes the key instrument of profit and loss, rise and fall, and life and death.

The plot culminates at the Carnivale, the masked ball, at the Opera House, with the entrance of King Gustav III. ‘The century died a few years ahead of schedule’ says Emil. He thinks too that the age of magic is ending.

Mrs. Sparrow is based on the real Ulrica Arfvidsson, the famous medium of the Gustavian era, who predicted the King’s future in 1786. This novel mingles fictional characters with historical figures in a tale of intrigue, trickery, rivalry, sleight of hand, and a turn of a fan. It begins well – with the selection of the eight cards – slumps in the middle – and picks up pace before the cutthroat Carnivale.

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

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