The Odalisque

by Richard Manton

Book Overview

In the high noon of Victorian empire, Lady Jenny Langham accompanies her soldier uncle to the city of Khartoum on the Nile. The inhabitants of that city are soon besieged by an army of natives, and Jenny and her maid fall into the hands of the victorious Mahdi. Bedslaves of the warriors and gentle lovers of each other, the women are enveloped by punishment and pleasure in the long hot months of erotic captivity.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0929654277
• ISBN13: 9780929654270
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Blue Moon Books
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Insatiable erotic/historical novel

I can't resist erotic and historical elements rolled into one novel. The Odalisque is as insatiable as it is fanciful. It's set during the Victorian age. Lady Jenny Langham hadn't anticipated the sort of fate that befalls her upon arrival to the city of Khartoum on the Nile. When she becomes the captive of Mahdi, her life goes from royalty to one of the most disarming forms of erotic slavery ever written. Pleasure and submission are two of the things that Lady Jenny has accepted with relish. Will she ever return to her old life? And, more to the point, will she want to?This novel reminds me of Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series. Having loved the aforementioned series, reading The Odalisque was like discovering a treasure chest. I couldn't put it down. Are you in the bargain for an erotic/historical read? I highly recommend this novel.

Very Informative!!

This book certainly lets you know there are East-West differences. It was so well written it seemed like it was based on a true story. Jenny our main character goes from a free British girl, very flirtatious, but quick to call stop on her frustrated fiance in England. When he almost takes her by force, she decides to go see some other parts of the world and travels to Africa. She treats the locals all like lower class and is very much a snob. But revenge on her from the locals comes when the "Mahdi" overcomes the British at Khartoum and she becomes part of the Harem. She begins with fear and finally becomes accepting of her lot in life.This book is exciting, sizzling and informative. Wow! The ending in the book is a section on real-life harem events from Richard Manton. This added to the flavor of the book also. A great read.

The Odalisque

A collector of books on harem life, I found Manton's afterword such a delightful bonus on fact versus fantasy. The wildest fiction may be tame compared to the history of real-life harem spectaculars, but 'The Odalisque' really delivers with five alarm erotic jalapino sprinkled with just enough authentic salt. How I'd love to have this author write one for us!Wicked Velvet Web Publisher Frances LaGatta ....

The Odalisque

I enjoy reading books about harem life and found Richard Manton's afterward of fact versus fiction most intiquiging. What an added bonus/encore! The wildest fiction 'is' tame compared with the history of real-life harem spectaculars, and his fictional 'Odalisque' encapsualtes it with dynamite plot twists and characterizations that are far from dry. As allways, the erotica is five alarm jalapinio sprinkled with just enough authentic salt. How I would love to have him write one for us.

An erotic marvel and a historical wonder ....

This is the kind of Richard Manton book that first grabs your mind as it takes you back in history, then grabs your throat as the story develops and finally, grabs your ... (oh well anyway)... as you the reader are trapped into being a witness and willing accomplice to seduction and total submission of our heroine inot sins of the flesh. In part one, Beauty and the Beast, we find our high strung heroine, Jenny Langham, a very beautifull young 22 year old English girl in the early 1900's, forcing herself to accompany her uncle, and officer in the British Forces, to Khartoum, Sudan, to escape the horror of almost being raped by her then fiancee. The author does allow us the momentary relief to admire Leslie and dislike the cad of a fiancee even though we know that she is a brazen flirt...... Part two, Khatoum, finds our heroine with a full complement of British and European ex-patriot society as they must deal with the threat of attack by a nomad moslem leader calling himself the 'Mahdi'. The Brits having lost their stomach for empire maintenance sent a General Gordon to make peace with the Mahdi and try to make a gracefull exit from the African country. Without delving into the great historical period fiction with many real world political leaders of the time being written in, we find Leslie continuing her flirtations and teasings of the men around her. As a reader our frustration begin to rise in a secret hope that Leslie must soon receive her just deserts ... at least .... Part three, The Woman and Her Master, Khartoum falls so quickly that all of the men woman and children of the ex-patriate society fall into the hands of the Mahdi. In the flash of an eye we now find Jennys' strong headed willfullness and incessant teasing dealt with by her new masters. The induction of our young heroine into the harem of the new leaders is written with such skill and mastery that it's hard to believe we are only reading fiction. The eroticism of Jennys' conversion to slavery is the best that I have ever read and sizzles .... so much so I actually don't really wonder any more about the source of Richard Mantons' background experience and material .... In the afterword, The Horrors of the Harem, the author treats us with a bit of self serving advertisement of some of the other slave/harmen books he has written, but, more importantly place before the reader some historical truths about the topic of this book that will make your hair stand on end, unless, perhaps, the reader has travelled through some of the countries in the dark continent. Absolutely stupendous and this book is a must have for your erotic library ......