Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

I bought this book a while back from Reliance TimeOut and I had reservations about how good it would be. If beauty was only skin deep, then I was a fool to think the book was any good.

Its one of 4 book s in an "Islam Quartet" by Tariq Ali, who is a man of many words of Pakistani and British leanings. His more recent books have been takes on current affairs - Iraq, Pakistan, India and other topics.

This struck me as a pretty different book (or series of books, to be more precise). It dealt with Islam in Europe and how, in those days, it was the European Christians who were the so called "Fundamentalists". We have studied in history, of how great Islamic civilizations existed and, in some ways, still do exist today. Not having heard of any better way of getting to know this side of a people, I thought I'd give the book a shot!

Its a brilliant book, as far as I have read anyway! Its informative - which is one quality I was truly interested in. But its not all bland history - He's taken liberties with reality wherever necessary. The only fault would have to be that its very difficult to make out where the fact ends and the fiction begins...

"Over the embers of one tragedy lies the shadow of another..."