Ziska Kindle Edition

A typical mummy story? Nope-- This novel references the historical significance of Europe and England during the imperialistic era. Using Egypt as its main theme, this novel delves into the supernatural phenomenon/stories famous during Victorian England. This novel touches upon the anxieties and curiosities of conquered Egypt, using its spiritual practices as well as its mystical/mysterious culture to springboard the narrative from. Overall, this novel is a great read for anyone who is interested in interesting prose of Victorian England, or anyone who is remotely interested in the sort of cultural and historical significance represented within the novel.

Marie Corelli was a highly popular writer of sensational novels in the Victorian era. She combined high melodrama with an attempt to reconcile Christianity with reincarnation, astral project and other spiritual aspects not generally associated with Christianity. With Ziska, Corelli uses the medium of novel writing as a vehicle for just that crusade.The plot of Ziska takes place in the British society's "Season" in Cairo. According to Corelli, t is just the same as the London Season, only with slightly looser morals, giving the greater opportunity to find husbands for daughters past their prime on the marriage market. The Princess Ziska has appeared on the scene, and taken this tight community by storm. Nothing is known about her, except that she is unusually beautiful and has stolen the hearts of all the young men, the Scottish laird Denzil Murray in particular. When Murray's best friend, the famous French painter Armand Gervase, arrives in Cairo, complications arise. Gervase immediately falls for Ziska, makes no pretense that he (unlike Murray) does not have pure intentions, and feels that he knows her from somewhere.Marie CorelliMurray's mentor and friend, Dr. Maxwell Dean acts as the mouthpiece for Corelli's unconvetional spiritual beliefs, and through him the reader begins to see that there is something not quite human and Ziska and that she and Gervase are somehow destined to be together.A good portion of this novel is given over to soliloquy in which Corelli expresses her opinion about various things. The first 21 pages, for example, are a roast of the British tourist in Egypt, and of how said tourist wants to make all foreign lands into another version of England. It made for amusing reading, but I did begin to wonder if I had stumbled onto a book of essays instead of a novel.The rest of the book is much taken up with much discussion of reincarnation and of a slightly different take on Christianity. It was interesting the first time, but Corelli has her characters discuss this time and again, and for paragraphs and pages, and by the end, I was skimming large parts of conversations.The actual storyline was rather thrilling, in the way of a Victorian sensational novel, despite the fact that Dr. Dean spells it out for the reader several times. Had it not been for his "spoilers" and for the recurring, yawn-inducing philosophizing, this would have been a rather good read. There was drama and humor and emotion, as well as interesting characters, but there was just way too much laborious, stilted conversations about spiritualism that kept interrupting the flow and made Ziska a struggle to finis

My mother read this book in the mid 1930's and told me about it. I was surprised how well this book kept me interested and finished reading it in one weekend.

For my 25th birthday, a friend bought me a "shot" of 25-year-old Macallan single malt scotch. At that time, it cost $27.00, so needless to say, it was a sipper and not a shooter. Upon putting the small snifter to my nose, the bouquet was amazingly complex and brought about euphoric olfactory sensations not often experienced. Upon the first sip, my mouth was filled with an amazing plethora of sensations - one from each different side of my mouth. Similarly, I experienced such a bouquet of sensations while reading Ziska, by Marie Corelli. While only 155 pages long, Ziska is filled with hints, suggestions, ideas, and symbolism. A reader encounters feminism and female sexuality, arguments against the upper class, questions about the definition of love, questions about life and death and the presence or lack of presence of an afterlife, and in the end, is filled with the desire to make amends for any wrongs she/he has accidentally or intentionally perpetrated upon other people. Even with all of this, or perhaps because of all this, the story remains cohesive, maintaining the attention of the reader throughout. This is certainly aided by the fact that the story is set in a place that has an intrigue and mystery of its own - Egypt. With the ancient pyramids, hidden tombs, hidden treasure, and secret entrances, this story easily fits with many of the trends in current literature. As Dr. Curt Herr, writer of the introduction tells the reader, Ziska was a best-seller in 1897, right along side Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Richard Marsh's The Beetle. Upon reading Ziska, it is easy to see why.

This novel was not what I expected. Well, I bought it, well, I didn't pay for it, I got it because it's free. I needed something to read. It's an okay story about some super beautiful and mysterious princess that two gentlemen fall for. The princess is interested in one of the men but she has some ulterior motives. All in all it's far-fetched and a bit creepy.

I loved this book! Once you start a Corelli novel, it is impossible to walk away from it. Ziska follows the life of a decadent artist as he experiences past life regressions when he meets Ziska in Cairo. Flickers of memories start to interrupt his thoughts, and as the book progresses he becomes more and more haunted by her face. I won't give away any plot spoilers here- but the final chapter is a wonderful read! I wasn't expecting Corelli's ending- and found my self thinking about it long after I put the book down. For a 100 year old book, Ziska is really modern. It is a simple tale filled with lush details, some social commentary (which is a riot to today's reader), and is a blast to read- from beginning to end, I was hooked.

Not sure if I really liked this book. It seems to just plod on through to the end.I bought it as in other reviews mentioned it was set in cairo.True the pyramids are mentioned also the Mena hotel which is still standing(although now updated)but not much else about the vibrant city it really is.I should know as I lived there for over 2yrs.It's ok if you have nothing else to read but not on my "must have" list.Ziska