THE GODDESS & THE THIEF: MAGIC VS FREEDOM

The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox, photo Agnes Prygiel

"The Goddess and the Thief" by Essie Fox is a contemporary novel written in the style of old Victorian romances. Full of ghosts, mysterious elixirs, crystal balls and dark visions - the book takes us back into the era of proper old-fashioned dramas. Published by Orion Books in 2013 it has a beautifully designed cover. Powerful colors and tantalizing Hindu imagery makes you just want to grab the book from the shelf.

It is 1850. Alice is a British girl growing up in India. When both of her parents die she is brought up in Britain by her aunt Mercy - a fake spiritualist medium.

Carefully manufactured ghost sessions aunt Mercy drags Alice into attract regular clients - grieving Queen Victoria being one of them - and become a way of making money. But while aunt Mercy is just a spiritual wannabe, growing up Alice showings real supernatural abilities and becomes a threat for a controlling guardian. Soon the young girl will have to choose between her gift, love and freedom.

Difficult Love

Two Lovers' DVD cover looks typical. But one shouldn't judge a book by the cover or a DVD by the front image. What I thought would be a predictable romance came out to be a stunning masterpiece where a troubled young man (talented Joaquin Phoenix) with a passion for photography has got to choose between an arranged marriage (Vinessa Shaw) and a beautiful but difficult lover he naturally feels connceted to (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Two Lovers takes its inspiration from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story White Nights and, like old Russian dramas, trows us into a middle of an emotional conflict where the choice between passion and convienience is not easy. It kept me masmerised and unsure about what was going to happed untill the very last last second of the film. And even after it finished I remained under the spell of this intimate story.

Directed by James Gray, released in 2008, also stars Isabella Rossellini, Moni Moshonow and Elias Kotenas.