The Sands of time

The Sands of time

Breath-taking romance, endless adventure and thrilling suspense.

Yet another classic by Sidney Sheldon. The sands of time is a sensational fiction by the famous writer. He has been a master of plot twisting and proves it again. Set in Spain, it revolves around four nuns of Cistercian Convent. They get into the paws of the Basque terrorists and end up getting caught between the battle of Jaime Miro, the leader of Basques and Colonel Ramon Acoca, the head of the Spanish Army. The story has a lot of main characters and the past of each has been disclosed skilfully.

To start with, Jaime Miro is a courageous hero to the Basques and anathema to the Spanish government. Colonel Ramon Acoca, the fierce leader of Spanish Army, thirsty for the blood of Jaime Miro.

And the four nuns,

Sister Graciela, a splendid beauty with a terrible past and her love, the brave freedom fighter, Ricardo Mellado.

Sister Megan, a young orphan who unveils the secret of her life. Her love for the Basque leader Jaime Miro brings an ultimate twist in the story.

Sister Teresa, an old and innocent one, her blind faith leads to a bitter end.

Sister Lucia, whose vengeance chases her all along, and Rubino Arzano, who risks his life for the bold Sicilian beauty.

The sisters live peacefully at the convent near Avila. Life at the convent is serene, but the rules of this place enclosed in the four walls are quite strange. Every sister is given a small cell to live in. They neither speak to one another, nor have they seen each other. One small mistake and they are brutally penalized by the Reverend Mother.

The story begins with the rescuing of Basque prisoners by Jaime Miro. As a consequence of which, Colonel Acoca and his army begin their hunt for the Basque terrorists. The Spanish army attacks the Cistercian Convent in search of the guilty. This leads to the escape of the four nuns, into the world they long ago abandoned. To protect the gold cross they begin their Journey to the Medavia Convent and are chased by Colonel and his men.

As their journey begins, they come across Jaime Miro and his companions. A slip of the tongue occurs and the nuns reluctantly have to travel along with them. They decide to split into three groups and then, the unstoppable adventure begins. Chasing and escaping creates powerful action along every page. The destiny of each nun, the fight of Jaime and the arousal of feelings make the rest of the story.

The landscape of melodramatic Spain is portrayed excellently. The continuous plot changing becomes quite confusing, but it has been cleverly presented by the writer. At times, the story stretches a lot, but, the climax is worthwhile. It is predicted to be a tragic one. Rather, it turns out to be happy and that’s the best part of the novel. Also, it’s quite lewd at some points but, that’s seen in every work of Sheldon. Overall it’s really a book to hang out with. Read it by yourself and uncover the hidden secrets as you go.

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