Author(s): Azhar Abidi

Historical Fiction

`On the twenty-seventh day of the month of June, in the year of grace 1731, my brother, Bartolomeu Lourenfo, rose on his airship from the ancient ramparts of St. Jorge Castle. I remember the day as clearly as if it were yesterday. . .' Thus begins Passarola Rising, a fabulous historical tale of two brothers and their love of flight. Bartolomeu Lourenco builds the airship Passarola to escape the intellectually stultifying climate of eighteenth-century Portugal. He and his brother Alexandre take to the air, and journey from the salons and bordellos of Ancien Regime Paris to the far reaches of the North Pole on their quest for scientific truth. They encounter some of the most colourful characters of the European Enlightenment, from the loquacious Voltaire to the irascible King Stanislaus of Poland. Filled with evocative period detail, adventure and suspense, Passarola Rising is a picaresque tale that also touches upon the nature of truth and the meaning of fraternal companionship.