This week Go Readreviews A Teardrop on the Cheek of Timeby Diana and Michael Preston and Time Out Budapest
A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time
Diana and Michael Preston
Corgi,
£9.99 in UK
Shah Jahan, emperor of the Moguls, was well versed
in the arts of treachery and bloodshed. To consolidate his grip on
power he had usurped his father and ordered the death of his
brother. But when his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died in
childbirth he launched into a construction project that would stand
as testament to his love. The result is one of the wonders of the
world, the Taj Mahal, regarded as being built by giants and
finished by jewellers. The building still exudes mystery: its
architect remains unknown, differing factions still dispute its
legacy, and what of the rumoured black taj, designed to be the
counterpoint to the white marble edifice?
This history of the Mogul empire traces the rise of the 17th century's richest ruler and how the creation of the taj precipitated the fall of his rule, the collapse of the Mogul empire and the destruction of Jahan's legacy.
It is a cracking account of unfettered wealth and staggering opulence at the court of an Asian and very real equivalent to King Lear.
Time Out Budapest
Penguin,
£11.99 in UK
Budapest, often a first destination for those
breaking their central or eastern European duck, is an odd, regal
jumble of a city, from the grandness of the ageing facades and
ornate bath-houses to the down-at-heel bars and ramshackle
restaurants, all slashed down the middle by the glittering Danube,
which keeps the bourgeois in Buda and the pulse in Pest. This guide
is packed with maps, magazine-style listings and appetising panels
that will have you sampling the cutting-edge culture and historic
heritage of this European essential in no time.