A Woman of Angkor by John Burgess

Teaser Tuesdays  is hosted by MizB; choose sentences from your current read and identify author and title for readers.  First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

I: The Brahmin

Brahmin priests chart the turnings of the cosmic engine. They counsel princes and craft judgments of holy law. But concerning simpler things, such as getting where they want to go? They often need some help.

Perhaps that is why I felt no apprehension when I first caught sight of the priest that rainy season afternoon. All I saw was a man who looked to be lost, and my sympathy went to him. With two soldier-guards, he had arrived on foot at the tiny settlement in the Capital's eastern reaches that was home to my family at the time. Then he began a search for someone or something that wasn't being found.

A Woman of Angkor by John Burgess
Published 2013  by River Books Press
Genre: historical fiction

Goodreads description:
"12th Century Cambodia, birthplace of the lost Angkor civilisation.
In a village behind a towering stone temple lives a young woman named Sray, whom neighbors liken to the heroine of a Hindu epic. Hiding a dangerous secret, she is content with quiet obscurity, but one rainy afternoon is called to a life in the royal court. Her faith and loyalties are tested by attentions from the great king Suryavarman II. She struggles to keep her devotion to her husband Nol, s palace confidante and master of the silk parasols, symbols of the monarch's rank.

This novel revives the rites and rhythms of the culture that built the temples of Angkor, then abandoned them to the jungle. Sray witnesses the construction of the largest temple, Angkor Wat, and offers an explanation for its greatest mystery - why it broke with centuries of tradition to face west instead of east."

Based on the opening chapter, would you keep reading?

Sunday Salon: A Few Good Books

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

Winter is hanging on with cold and icy rain. Winter officially ends this week but....only a few birds are out tweeting about spring in the backyard. Luckily, good books are still around in all weather, and I have started to read more on Kindle Cloud Reader.  Right click on a strange word and the dictionary meaning pops up!

Review books close by for when I get a few minutes more:

The Mermaid of Brooklyn

The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn:
Jenny Lipkin is a stretched-too-thin Brooklyn mom, tackling the challenges of raising two children in a cramped Park Slope walk-up in New York. But when her husband, Harry, vanishes one evening, Jenny reaches her breaking point. And in a moment of despair, a split-second decision changes her life forever. (goodreads)

The Abundance

The Abundance by Amit Majmudar:  "A luminous, bittersweet novel of India and the American Midwest, immigrants and their first-generation children, and the power of cooking to bridge the gulfs between them."

A Woman of Angkor

A Woman of Angkor by John Burgess:
"An historically accurate history of World Heritage site Angkor - 12th Century Cambodia, birthplace of the lost Angkor civilisation. In a village behind a towering stone temple lives a young woman named Sray, called to a life of prominence in the royal court. She is tested by attentions from the great king Suryavarman II though her husband Nol is palace confidante and master of the silk parasols that were symbols of the monarch's rank.

This novel revives the rites and rhythms of the ancient culture that built the temples of Angkor, then abandoned them to the jungle. Sray witnesses the construction of the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat, and offers an explanation for its greatest mystery - why it broke with centuries of tradition to face west instead of east." (from goodreads)

What's on your plate this Sunday?