The Twentieth wife

Following closely, on the heels of City of Djinns, with tales from the Mughal rule in India, was my next book in the reading cart - "The Twentieth Wife" by Indu Sundaresan, this again, recommended by NN, a brilliantly crafted tale about Nur Jahan's life(Jahangir's twentieth and last wife) culminating in the marriage between the Mughal Emperor and this Diwan's daughter. A daughter born in times of strife and struggle, Mehrunnisa(meaning Sun of Women), as Nur Jahan was called, 'The Twentieth wife' focusses on the life and times of women in the Mughal empire, which is very unique in itself, the power they weilded, their daily struggles and how they rendered themselves invaluable to their Emperors.

Wonderful narrative and after a long while, I finally found a book I couldnt put away for extended periods of time- yes, the un-put-downable kind. In fact, I set aside all chores for today, and after I returned from work, over a nice hot cup of chai, I decided I HAD to finish it before the night :).

Indu Sundaresan's writing definitely has a captivating style, and a luscious, dreamy narration that reminds one of fairy tale romances. The setting, the dialogues are rich and very palpable, which makes it hard for one to conclude the book to be a fictional piece. Cant wait to lay my hands on its sequel- 'The Feast of Roses'.

So thats whats next in the reading cart. John Grisham's 'Playing for Pizza' will certainly have to wait!

Footnote : NN has also egged me to sign up for Shelfari. Hm, not sure if I want to, yet!