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A Beggar at the Gate | 
 enlarge | Author: Thalassa Ali
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.52
You Save: $3.47 (50%)
New (20) from $3.52
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 691348
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0553584170
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553584172
ASIN: 0553584170
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New and Factory Sealed Item Fast Shipping
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Product Description
Set in nineteenth-century British India, Thalassa Ali’s dazzling debut, A Singular Hostage, introduced us to Mariana Givens, the Englishwoman who risked everything to save a young Indian orphan from certain death. Now Ali returns to that exotic kingdom beyond the northwestern frontier, where Mariana will come face-to-face with a different destiny.
Two years have passed since Mariana left the walled city of Lahore. But she’s unable to forget its haunting scent of roses or her ill-fated marriage to a native-born husband that has scandalized Calcutta society and made her an outcast among the English. Worse still, she bears the knowledge that she will be forced to give up Saboor—the boy believed to be endowed with magical gifts whose life she risked her own to save.
Now Mariana must revisit Lahore to return Saboor to his family and request a divorce from Hassan Ali Khan. But how can she say good-bye to the enigmatic man whose love defied two cultures—or the child she’s loved as her own? As political and civil strife threaten to erupt in violence, she seeks answers in a world no Englishwoman has ever seen. And she’s driven ever closer to a secret so powerful that it will change her life—and the lives of those she loves—forever.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Part 2. April 20, 2007
I lost track of Thalassa Ali after reading the first book in this series, so I was surprised to find that two more were finished. Although perhaps more of the romance novel than the first book, the second is a satisfying sequel. It continues to provide interesting detail about the time and place, the customs, beliefs, and prejudices while delivering an interesting plot and an engaging, if flawed, heroine. Having just finished this book, I can't wait to plunge into the next one.
A thrilling tale December 14, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was one of the most entertaining books I've read in a while. If you love Indian or Hindu culture, you will love this book. Ali provides a unique look at this culture from the European perspective, at first judgemental, later accepting, and finally, by the end, you fall in love with the beauty of India. Her characters are 3 dimensional and well rounded. I highly recommend this book!
A real page turner! November 29, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
By the time you get to this sequel of A SINGULAR HOSTAGE, you'll probably be as desperate as I was to find out what happens to the adventurous Mariana, her new husband Hassan (the marriage has yet to be consummated), her spiritually gifted stepson Saboor, and the other fascinating characters in this tale of Victorian India. I found it very hard to put the book down.
I adore the love story -- how delicately it grows out of almost teasingly brief encounters between two people culturally primed to misunderstand each other. I also love the way this trilogy takes you into a different world -- actually, many different worlds -- with part of the delight being the ironic juxtaposition of conflicting world views.
I'm not usually one for mystic plot turns, which do occur regularly in this trilogy, but Ali makes them work well, and along the way you gain an intriguing and sympathetic glimpse into Sufism and the history of what today is Pakistan.
My only complaint is that the final book in the trilogy isn't out yet. I can't wait to read it!
I love this trilogy October 10, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
But WHY does it HAVE to be a trilogy? WHY couldn't it have been a big thick juicy blockbuster? This parceling out of the story in parsimonious portions is driving me BANANAS! I waited for over two years for the rest of the story and now I find out that I get just the middle and have to wait another YEAR for the end. Oh dear.
terrific insightful historical tale September 29, 2004
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
In 1838 India, Englishwoman Mariana Givens arrives to find herself a suitable husband amongst the British military. Many officers want her, but instead she falls in love with a native baby Saboor whose mother died from poison.. During her quest to return the allegedly mystical infant to his father, Mariana falls in love and marries Hassan Ali Khan over the objections of both their societies.
Two years later Mariana realizes she has no place in the Indian world and remains the pariah of English society. She knows it is time to return to Lahore where her spouse lives and do two acts that will destroy her soul. She must return her beloved Saboor so that he can obtain his rightful place as a person supposedly gifted with magical abilities and she must obtain a divorce from Hassan. A heartbroken Mariana must say goodbye to the two native males that she loves for the sake of peace between two cultures on the verge of deadly conflict.
The sequel to SINGULAR HOSTAGE, A BEGGAR AT THE GATE is a terrific insightful historical tale with a touch of romanticism that brings to live mid eighteenth century India. The story line moves rather quickly yet not only has full blooded key characters, but also provides a deep window into two peoples at a point of major strife seemingly ready to turn deadly. Still the center of the novel is Mariana and her relationships with the two males she loves and with Indian and English societies. Readers will beg for more sequels especially what happens to the fascinating Saboor as an adult.
Harriet Klausner
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