An engrossing read about an interesting time and place

books:


	• The Twentieth Wife: A Novel Indu Sundaresan Washington Square Press, 2003 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 78 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good read

This book takes place in India during the Mughal Empire. It tells the story of one of India's great empresses, the twentieth wife of Emperor Jahangir. This empress is Nur Jahan (Light of the World), who was born just Mehrunnisa, the youngest child of an outcast Persian nobleman, born in a tent while the family flees to India to start over with nothing. As a young woman Mehrunnisa falls in love with Prince Salim, but it is a long journey to be with the one she loves.

Quote: "And Salim? He had to notice her too, or else how would she become Empress?"

Read this book. Really. It is beautiful, memorable, and hard to put down. It also revisits a woman in Indian history who is too often overshadowed by the legacy of her niece (in whose honor the Taj Mahal was built), although this book would argue that Mehrunnisa was a much more strong, significant empress. It vividly shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of women in India during this time, who were occasionally great players on the government stage, although from behind the harem walls.

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An engrossing read about an interesting time and place

This was a well-crafted historic novel about women in the Mughal Empire (what is now Pakistan, Afghanistan and India) several hundred years ago. Characters are engaging, and the intrigues of various attempts at the throne are shown in interesting ways, recalling similar fights for supremacy in England of old. If the test of a novel is that it interests you in the time period and setting, this one is a success.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

An enchanting historical epic of grand passion and adventure, this debut novel tells the captivating story of one of India's most controversial empresses -- a woman whose brilliance and determination trumped myriad obstacles, and whose love shaped the course of the Mughal Empire. Skillfully blending the textures of historical reality with the rich and sensual imaginings of a timeless fairy tale, The Twentieth Wife sweeps readers up in Mehrunnisa's embattled love with Prince Salim, and in the bedazzling destiny of a woman -- a legend in her own time -- who was all but lost to history until now.

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