First impression

SINCE they consume such enormous quantities, it is almost always presumed that the British were the first ones to have chanced upon tea. But the story is somewhat different and there are some fascinating anecdotes on how tea finally conquered the British shores to become a part and parcel of their lives. Tea first originated in China, where scholars and others wrote about it in glowing terms. It was first thought to be a medicinal herb and was made largely from green leaves. Later the Chinese discovered that this concoction tasted better if the leaves were withered and dried. And of course the great writer Lu Yu, immortalised tea forever, when he wrote, "I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea". Yu became a patron saint for tea and its lovers and thus evolved a rather elaborate ritual to drink the brew, closely followed in eastern countries even today.

But tea really came into its own when an agent of the East India Company mentioned it in his writings. The first ever sale of tea in Britain was held by Thomas Garraway and paved the way for a nation to become addicted to it. The book details the growth of tea around the western world as well as Sri Lanka, India and China. Packed into this little book are details that will interest even a lay reader.

The Story of Tea, E. Jaiwant Paul, Roli Books, Rs. 225.

It is rare to find such a good crop of books for children but scholastic has certainly done well with its new titles. Leading the way is the 122-page wonder book, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes: Reach for the Stars. Anne Mazer has managed to pin down the aspirations of a young girl born into what she consideres as a slightly eccentric family of geniuses. Abby Hayes wants to be special so that she can match upto her twin sisters who excel at almost everything between themselves. She also has to contend with a younger brother who has a Midas touch. Her chance comes when her class decides to perform a play and every child is asked to audition. Abby's dreams, heartbreaks, frustrations and final triumph are beautifully told. I am sure every little girl will identify with this one.

The next one is based on the famous film by Manoj Night Shyamlam The Sixth Sense: Secrets From Beyond. Five teenagers disappear without any warning. But it is only when Cole Sears' friends' brother, Ted Black, also mysteriously disappears that Sears gets into the act with his friend. But Sears has a secret, a past that he cannot share with anyone except his mom, the detective on the case and, of course, his doctor. What is Sears' dreadful secret that keeps him apart from other boys? Why is he hellbent on pursuing a path that will bring him danger?

This is a contemporary story, which at one level addresses the problems that children in a western society are faced with early- on in life. It is a story that talks about children running away from home because they feel betrayed emotionally when one of their parents walks out of their lives. There is a gnawing sense of yearning, of loss that leads to huge turmoils within these young minds. It is also a story that tells all youngsters to hang onto life in good faith, whatever the odds.

A simple charming, almost fairy tale like adventure, Horses to Vijayanagar is a tale of two children growing up in the most arduous of circumstances. However dame fortune smiles on them, when they decide to undertake a journey with a group of throughbred horses for the King of Vijayanagar. The children have to slip out of their village in the dead of the night, one of them having to disguise herself as a boy. The adventures that lie ahead and how these children overcome them to finally find a place in the sun makes Monisna Mukundan's story heartwarming.

The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Rs. 70; Secrets From Beyond, Rs. 80; Horses to Vijayagar, Rs. 60; Scholastic.

IT is a subject that continues to fascinate generations: War. In all its horror and also its strange, brutal beauty. But who would regard war as beautiful? A good question, answered in part by the historical novelist, who spins out a tome dedicated parts of life that are bygone. And the war novel? A genre by itself, it defies the logic of all peace-loving men who, despite their fastidiousness, will read with a certain interest the twisted logic of Hitler, Napolean or Mussolini. A war means many things.

Napolean is the stuff around whom legends are written. The stories are many, memoirs abound, but still this is one hero (or anti-hero as you may choose), who continues to inspire. His career has been well documented and his wars well mapped. His successes are legend, but are his defeats? This book not only begins with a smaller battle that Napolean commanded personally but also gives an intricate account of what is today pegged as the first defeat of Napolean on land - the battle of Aspern- Essling. Written in great detail, the book is a realistic portrayal of a war, its people, its armies, their follies and foibles, the noise of gunpowder booming across the battlelines, the charge of a hundred hooves, thundering, cutting and moving mercilessly. Until there is almost nothing and no one left: "More than forty thousand killed in approximately thirty hours". Essling was also the battle that led to the rise of nationalist movements throughout Europe. This is a book that leads you blindly into the centre of the fighting but when you leave you've seen it like never before.

The Battle, Patrick Rambaud,

Picador, œ6.99.

TWO girls, a bizzare lifestyle, peculiar professions: One servicing men and the other enticing them to look and behold but no more. One dies a terrible gruesome death. Mysteriously. The other sets out to get the truth. Drawn into the vortex of a deep dark hole, she must go on. Events unfold, fast and thick, there is a mystery within a mystery and when it finally unfolds there is nothing but an inky darkness. This is a new thriller. If you like yours spiked with more blood than gore, read on.

Mercy Alexander, George Tiffin,

Picador. Price not mentioned.

SUCHITRA BEHAL

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