This notice was published in the Princeton Review, April 1873, p. 378. Opinions expressed are of the original author, not of this site's Guide. The notice gives a sense of the reception of Anna Leonowens' work in her own time.
The Romance of the Harem. By Mrs. Anna H. Leonowens, Author of "the English Governess at the Siamese Court." Illustrated. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co. The remarkable experiences of Mrs. Leonowens at the Court of Siam are related with simplicity and in an attractive style. The secrets of an Oriental Harem are exposed with fidelity; and they reveal wonderful incidents of passion and intrigue, of treachery and cruelty; and also of heroic love and martyr-like endurance under most inhuman tortures. The book is full of matters of painful and tragical interest; as in the narratives about Tuptim, the Tragedy of the Harem; the Favorite of the Harem; the Heroism of a Child; Witchcraft in Siam, etc. The illustrations are numerous and generally very good; many of them are from photographs. No recent book gives so vivid a description of the interior life, customs, forms and usages of an Oriental Court; of the degradation of women and the tyranny of man. The author had unusual opportunities for becoming acquainted with the facts she records.
More on Anna Leonowens
Anna and the King of Siam, The King and I, her life in the country now called Thailand, etc. etc. etc.
