Do request them as they are delightful reading excursions.

I didn’t feel there was anything particularly graphic in the Olson book. It’s been a while since I read it now, but what stands out in my memory are the portraits of the individual women – Olson spends much time discussing the backgrounds and the work that led to them being imprisoned. If you already enjoy Olson’s work, I think you can trust her again with this book. (Also, I can’t remember, have you read Last Hope Island? That’s still my favourite of her books.)

I think Pawn in Frankincense is my favorite book in that series, doubtless because Philippa is my favorite character. Also, when I was a child and my mother was obsessing about the books with her best friend in long letters (!) I picked up little bits of plot and loved how intrepid she was before I even “met” her myself.

I’ve seen them mentioned online but our library doesn’t have them yet. I’ll keep an eye out!

A little fantasy is good sometimes (especially these days).

The problem with books about art always is that including the artworks makes it much more expensive to publish. Someone (the author? the publisher? the marketing department?) makes a decision, which often comes down to affordability (which generates more sales), and I suspect that assumptions are made about ‘everyone’ being able to ‘look it up on Google’ when they decide not to include the artworks.

Speaking for myself, I’d rather not have images if they decide to publish them in B&W instead. Here in Australia where access to the best of European art is very much a matter of being able to afford to travel, books about art were my lifeline but the ones with miserable little B&W reproductions were worse than awful, they were misleading. I’ll never forget standing in front of the Ditchley portrait of Elizabeth I and realising that those spots on her dress were actually jewels and not embroidery as I had thought from the B&W image in E H Gombrich’s Story of Art!

Nice work getting your friend to read Jalaluddin for the first time! This wasn’t my favourite of her books (the American setting felt more generic than her Ontario-set books) but still a very pleasant holiday read.

Thanks, Sharlene! Wishing the same for you.