Passarola Rising by Azhar Abidi

From the Publisher

The fabulous debut novel by new international talent Azhar Abidi, Passarola Rising is a deftly written picaresque tale filled with evocative detail, adventure, and suspense. Set in eighteenth-century Europe, it tells the story of Bartolomeu and Alexandre Lourenço, who use their airship, the Passarola, to escape the strictures of the Church, the suspicion of the government, and the intellectually stultifying climate of Lisbon. As they venture from the salons and bordellos of ancien régime Paris to the desolate far reaches of the North Pole, the brothers Lourenço encounter some of the most colorful characters of the European Enlightenment, including the loquacious Voltaire and the irascible King Stanislaus of Poland.

The New York Times - Alexander McCall Smith

The idea behind this book is a lovely one. The anachronistic fantasy - in this case, aviation before the age of aviation - is always entertaining, and Abidi makes much of that aspect of the story, especially in scenes where the brothers take part in military encounters. The view from above also provides a fine vantage point for descriptions of the towns and cities of the time. It is all very colorful.

Publishers Weekly

Pakistani-Australian author Abidi's American debut charts a marvelous fictional journey by a pair of real 18th-century Brazilian brothers. Alexandre Louren o recounts his daring adventures with his older brother, the inventor Bartolomeu, aboard their wildly innovative airship, the Passarola, or "great bird." After finding rich patrons in Lisbon to fund Bartolomeu's flight obsession, they make their successful maiden voyage on the vacuum-pumped Passarola in 1731 in the presence of His Majesty Joao V. However, the brothers run afoul of Cardinal Conti's Inquisition and flee to France, where they are championed by the Enlightenment regime of Louis XV, as long as their airship can serve his purposes. Commissioned by the Acad mie des Sciences to measure distances to the polar circle, the brothers set out on a harrowing trek into the extreme northern regions, where Alex is beset by hallucinations of a splendid phantom city, and they must turn back. They cannot offer indisputable proof of what they saw during their exploration, so, disheartened they separate-Alex back to Brazil, to lead a mediocre existence, and Bartolomeu off to incredible adventures in India and beyond. Inspired by the historical record, Abidi's narrative offers a wonderfully fanciful realization of Bartolomeu's aeronautical ambitions. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Set in mid-18th-century Portugal, Abidi's delightful debut novel tells of the flying expeditions of Bartolomeu (whose character is based on the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu Lourento de Gusmao) and his younger brother, Alexandre, on an airship called the Passarola. The brothers' journeys begin earlier than expected when they learn that the Spanish Inquisition wants to seize their ship and torture the heretics who operate it. First they flee to Paris in the Passarola and take refuge in the home of Voltaire. Further adventures lead them to rescue Poland's King Stanislaus and embark on a long expedition that brings them near the North Pole. Alexandre, the narrator, almost dies from the extreme cold, and upon their return to civilization the brothers separate. Bartolomeu discovers he cannot remain on land very long; only in the skies can he achieve any happiness, while Alexandre returns home. This is a thoroughly enjoyable, enchanting story, both beautifully written and uplifting. Recommended for general readers-especially those with a desire for adventure-and for all libraries.-Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A Brazilian-born priest who explores the far reaches of earth and the heavens is the subject of this diverting debut novel, the work of a Pakistani-born Australian author. The learned cleric is Bartolomeu Lourenco, a real historical character, who-we learn from his younger brother Alexandre (Abidi's narrator)-excites the admiration and collusion of kings, and attracts the malevolent attention of a reactionary Cardinal, while sailing his airship (the Passarola) from Portugal to France, thence around the globe, in the early-18th century-mapping boundaries, entering terra incognita, discovering (among many other things) that "the satisfaction that this nomadic life brought him was impossible to find in the cities." Multiple voyages to the Polar (i.e., Arctic) Circle, on which Alexandre dutifully accompanies him, increase Bartolomeu's unquenchable restlessness, leading him to the limits of the stratosphere, a ravishing and intimidating unearthly vision and a fateful encounter with a hurricane. In a breathlessly readable narrative doled out in staccato declarative sentences and freighted with echoes of Jules Verne and Umberto Eco, Abidi tells a charming tale of high adventure, scientific curiosity and a really quite touching fraternal bond-severed when Alexandre realizes he cannot follow his brother's ceaseless pursuit of knowledge, later realizing as well that "I chose a life of comfort but part of me always longed for adventure." Details of the Passarola's construction, maintenance and repair are handled with brisk finesse, and the ordeal of a free thinker threatened by the know-nothing restrictions of the Inquisition is deftly suggested (and, more importantly, not labored). But the plot isbasically generic, and the actions into which the brothers are plunged are a tad too predictable. One feels that Abidi might have developed his story's conflicts more fully; might, like his two protagonists, have gone further. Nevertheless, this is a spirited story, engagingly told: a journey well worth taking.

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