The Twentieth Wife : A Novel (Paperback)

from gildaclone

While I wanted Mehrunnisa to succeed throughout the book, I couldn't help but compare it unfavorably to John Shors Beneath a Marbled Sky. Perhaps if I had read this book first? Mehrunnisa was not the most likable of characters and her instant attraction to Prince Selim seemed a bit superficial. W...

from crichine

The story of Nur Jahan before she became that. As a novel I liked it: full of color, drama, a love story. History doesn't seem so accurate, but it's a novel and maybe historians don't agree between themselves. I'm very much surprised with some of the Indian vocabulary. Why is she called "beta"? S...

from CarolynSchroeder

I was not as enamored with this book as most of the readers here. I found Sundaresan's writing only mediocre and the story very much dragged in the last quarter of the novel. It cannot be denied that the main character, Mehrunnisa, is an interesting woman and seemingly well before her time in int...

from dandelionroots

Sundaresan weaves a vivid and brutal tapestry of noble life during the Mughal Empire (northern India through Pakistan and a chunk of Afghanistan circa 1600). Building upon available accounts from the time period, we learn of Mehrunnisa who eventually becomes Emperor Jahangir's twentieth and final...

from nx74defiant

The first in a trilogy. It is about Mehrunnisa's childhood and first marriage. At this point she has no power or influance. There is a lot about Jahangir's rebellions, trying to usurp his father. Than once Jahangir becomes emperor he has to deal with his son Khusrua doing the same thing.The book ...