The Twentieth Wife
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4.4 • 49 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sundaresan's debut is a sweeping, carefully researched tale of desire, sexual mores and political treachery set against the backdrop of 16th- and 17th-century India. It centers on the rise to prominence of Mehrunnisa, the beautiful, intellectually astute daughter of a Persian courtier to the Mughal emperor, Akbar. Mehrunnisa falls in love with Akbar's heir apparent, Salim (who later becomes Emperor Jahangir), in her childhood; although Jahangir comes to share her passion, fate and the dictates of his royal station keep them apart for much of the novel. It isn't until Mehrunnisa has weathered a disastrous, loveless marriage to the brutal soldier Ali Quli, several miscarriages and the jealous plotting of Jahangir's chief wife, Jagat Gosini, that she gets the chance to defy the male-dominated Mughal culture and become a savvy, powerful empress. Like most historical fiction, Sundaresan's novel takes its fair share of liberties with plot and characterization, but still endeavors to be factually accurate as much as possible. Sundaresan charts the chronology of the Mughal Empire, describing life in the royal court in convincing detail and employing authentic period terms throughout. Despite its descriptive strengths, however, the work doesn't quite convince as creative fiction. So much plot is squeezed into the novel that there's little time for character development Mehrunnisa and Jahangir are wooden and one-dimensional creations, and matters aren't helped by the often stilted prose ("restlessness rose over her like tide on a beach"). Regardless of the wealth of edifying historical detail, this tale of palace intrigue is less than intriguing. 5-city West Coast author tour.
Customer Reviews
Enjoyable historical fiction of fabled relationship
Fascinating story based in the history of India's Mughal Empire. The story is about Mehrunnisa, daughter of a poor Persian who comes to the empire to make his fortune. She meets the son of Emperor Akbar (third of the Mughal) prince Salim when eight, and falls in love with him on his wedding day, and decides that someday, she will become his wife. Through brief encounters, Salim becomes fascinated with her, much to the disapproval of his powerful third wife, Jagat Gosain. The novel then follows Mehrunnisa's marriage to another Persian —a decorated soldier in Akbar's army, the rebellions of Salim against Akbar (where her husband betrays Salim), the reconciliation between father and son, and Salim's rise to power as Emperor Jahangir. Like his father, Salim's eldest son rebels, with the help of Mehrunnisa's husband. We also see how Jagat Gosain works to prevent Mehrunnisa and Salim from being together. Ultimately, however, it is the story of how, throughout the years, she held a power over him that no other in his harem of 19 wives and hundreds of concubines held over him.
Sundaresan creates a wonderful, vivid picture of the world of late 16th to early 17th Century India. The vastness of the Mughal Empire, the climate and customs of the period, the variety of it's people, and the complexity of the politics of the time are woven together to create an engaging story. There was a nice balance between providing the details and terms while not reading like a textbook explaining every term and custom. All of the main characters were distinct, and fully realized — each with their own voice and behaviors, letting me sink into the story despite my unfamiliarity with the setting - historical and cultural.
I look forward to reading the two following books by Sundaresan - the next dealing with Mehrunnisa's rise to be the premier wife, and the power behind the thrown. I always enjoy reading about the unconventional women of history.
The twentieth wife
Loved this book and Feast of Roses. Now reading Shadow princesses. I just hope this wonderful author doesn't, run out of subjects. My favorite in many years.
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could not put the book down,