Details Books As The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1)
| Original Title: | The Twentieth Wife |
| ISBN: | 0743428188 (ISBN13: 9780743428187) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Taj Mahal Trilogy #1 |
| Setting: | India |
| Literary Awards: | Washington State Book Award (2003) |
Indu Sundaresan
Paperback | Pages: 380 pages Rating: 4.04 | 12817 Users | 1418 Reviews
Commentary To Books The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1)
An enchanting seventeenth-century epic of grand passion and adventure, this debut novel tells the captivating story of one of India's most legendary and controversial empresses -- a woman whose brilliance and determination trumped myriad obstacles, and whose love shaped the course of the Mughal empire.She came into the world in the year 1577, to the howling accompaniment of a ferocious winter storm. As the daughter of starving refugees fleeing violent persecution in Persia, her fateful birth in a roadside tent sparked a miraculous reversal of family fortune, culminating in her father's introduction to the court of Emperor Akbar. She is called Mehrunnisa, the Sun of Women. This is her story.
Growing up on the fringes of Emperor Akbar's opulent palace grounds, Mehrunnisa blossoms into a sapphire-eyed child blessed with a precocious intelligence, luminous beauty, and a powerful ambition far surpassing the bounds of her family's station. Mehrunnisa first encounters young Prince Salim on his wedding day. In that instant, even as a royal gala swirls around her in celebration of the future emperor's first marriage, Mehrunnisa foresees the path of her own destiny. One day, she decides with uncompromising surety, she too will become Salim's wife. She is all of eight years old -- and wholly unaware of the great price she and her family will pay for this dream.
Skillfully blending the textures of historical reality with the rich and sensuous imaginings of a timeless fairy tale, The Twentieth Wife sweeps readers up in the emotional pageant of Salim and Mehrunnisa's embattled love. First-time novelist Indu Sundaresan charts her heroine's enthralling journey across the years, from an ill-fated first marriage through motherhood and into a dangerous maze of power struggles and political machinations. Through it all, Mehrunnisa and Salim long with fiery intensity for the true, redemptive love they've never known -- and their mutual quest ultimately takes them, and the vast empire that hangs in the balance, to places they never dreamed possible.
Shot through with wonder and suspense, The Twentieth Wife is at once a fascinating portrait of one woman's convention-defying life behind the veil and a transporting saga of the astonishing potency of love.
Specify About Books The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1)
| Title | : | The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1) |
| Author | : | Indu Sundaresan |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 380 pages |
| Published | : | February 18th 2003 by Washington Square Press (first published January 29th 2002) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Cultural. India. Romance |
Rating About Books The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1)
Ratings: 4.04 From 12817 Users | 1418 ReviewsJudgment About Books The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy #1)
I don't like the romance between Mehrunnisa (a.k.a Empress Nur Jahan) and the Emperor much, but the rest of the book: the struggle of a young girl finding a place for herself and her family in a male-centered ancient Indian society, the power struggle within the harem, the politic at the royal court, the description of the Mughal Empire, is pretty intriguing. Seriously speaking, I can understand somehow Prince Salim(later Emperor Jahangir) developed a strong crush on the young and charmingGreat summer read with all the pomp and circumstance you'd expect for a novel about the royal court of 15th century Moghul Empire (which included what today is Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and most of India)Mehrunnisa aka Empress Nur Jahan was one of the most powerful empresses of the Moghul Empire only her story is just now coming to light based on a pulling together of anecdotal mentions in books on the country and famous men at that time.This is the first of two books on her life. This first,
This is a book that truly takes you away. You can almost smell the flowers in the Indian gardens...that's how good it is. Please trust me and read it. You will find it hard to put down.
Empress Nur Jahan was the twentieth and favorite wife of Mogul Emperor Jahangir. Born into an aristocratic Persian family who had immigrated to India, her birth name was Mehrunnisa. She was a remarkable beauty, with blue eyes and pale skin, who fell in love with Jahangir as a young girl serving Empress Ruqayya Sultan Begam (chief wife of Jahangirs father, Emperor Akbar) in the Imperial harem. Then a prince, Jahangir was likewise enamored with her, but at seventeen she was married off to a
Took me awhile to get into this book but now ready for the 2nd in the trilogy. Enjoyed candid conversation with the author and insight concerning historical research versus re-creating India 400 years ago.
This is the beginning of the story of a Persian family who was immigrating to an unknown country due to the loss of position due to a ruler change in Persia. The mother of the family was about to give birth. The father had no money for milk or food for his family. With great unhappiness, the father took the baby and left her under a nearby tree, to hopefully be adopted. The baby came back to the father due to the generosity of a leader of a caravan, bound for India. He offered to present the
The Twentieth Wife (Taj Mahal Trilogy, #1), Indu SundaresanIndu Sundaresan is an Indian-American author of historical fiction. Her first novel The Twentieth Wife is about how a young widow named Mehrunissa, daughter of Persian refugees and wife of an Afghan commander, becomes Empress of the Mughal Empire under the name of Nur Jahan. Her second novel The Feast of Roses is the sequel to The Twentieth Wife and Taj Mahal Trilogy. Shadow Princess is Taj Mahal trilogy Third book. She is also the
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