Book Review: Sophia Schiller " The Race to Tibet"

Review of Sophie Schiller’s latest novel: The Race to Tibet

The novel “Race to Tibet”

Historical fiction is a class by itself. The latest novel of Sophie Schiller is a novel in this genre. The book makes interesting reading. The novel titled “The Race to Tibet” is a wonderful book by an American writer Sophie Schiller. The writer has written this book with the background of Tibet which for centuries was a forbidden land, where it was a crime for a foreigner to enter. It still remains the same as even now communist China has occupied the land and a bamboo curtain is imposed on Tibet, keeping the mystery of Tibet alive.

All credit to Sophie Schiller to have chosen to write with the central theme of Tibet. The novel’ The Race to Tibet’ is a great addition to historical fiction on Tibet which still fascinates scholars and common people.

Introduction

Fiction is the forte of writing interesting story's and vast number of novels and tales are published. One of the classes of books published is historical fiction which is a difficult genre to write upon. However historical fiction is a fascinating subject and one that appeals to many. As far as I am concerned, historical fiction is my liking and reading a good novel with a historical background is a worthwhile way to spend a dreary afternoon when one has nothing to do. A good novel on an interesting subject always fascinated and Sophie's latest novel comes in this category.

The Plot

The novel written in a racy style relates the tale of the French explorer and adventurer Gabriel Benevalot who along with Prince Henrie d’Orleans risked everything including their life to enter Tibet and meet the Dalai Lama. History tells us that this duo was the first to enter Tibet and reach Lhasa and meet the Dalai Lama. This makes a thrilling tale as the writer creates a fantastic picture of the time where instructions had been passed to kill all foreigners who entered Tibet. The novel brings out the character of Gabriel who was a French peasant and has the distinction of travelling to the forbidden lands of Central Asia.

The novel is well written and a great tale of adventure and Romance. Any man who loves historical fiction will find this novel not only thrilling but also add to his or her’s knowledge. Not much is known about this particular adventure of Gabriel Bonvalot and all credit to Sophie for having introduced us to this historical episode in the form of a thrilling tale.

Sophie Schiller

Sophie Schiller has written many other books also, but this is I feel her best work to date and sure to fascinate readers. The book is extremely well written in a lucid and racy style and engrosses the reader. There is no flagging of interest till the last page.

Sophie was born in Paterson, NJ but grew up in the West Indies. This probably has had an effect as she has a wider horizon. She lives in Brooklyn and is herself a lovely woman. Her earlier novel’ Transfer Day” was set in the Dutch West Indies. This novel “Race to Tibet” brings out the fluent command of Sophie over the English language and her portrayal of the characters in the book very realistic. The book is one of the good books in the field of historical fiction. All credit to Sophie to have penned this novel. Three cheers for her.