What a beautiful love story! It's an epic tale set in the seventeenth century Mughal Empire (present day Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan), about war and power, but through it all is a lasting love that threads through the years, so strong, bright and pure. This historic fiction is rich with details, but the author's description of the love is luminous. It makes one's heart ache and yearn to find someone that can share a life like they did.

Reserved for Bookgirrl when we meet in Finland.

So.... Finland is not happening in 2023 and I don't know when I will get to visit Toronto. The Twentieth Wife is getting impatient and decides to go take a plane ride and a cruise.

What a nice package to find in our rural mailbox yesterday. Thank you very much Azuki for mailing this book to me - all the way from Hong Kong! I took a peek last night, and ended up at page 17 before I knew it. I am glad there is a detailed family tree in the book, as I know I will be referring to it while going through the generations. I wanted to ask if you had read "Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Another book I loved is: "The Hero's Walk" by Anita Rau Badami. 'Sorry if I asked this question already! I can bring "The Hero's Walk" to Falkirk if you like. (I see you've given "The Twentieth Wife" 10/10!)

A page-turner. The years and the miles between the lovers' meetings creates real tension throughout the novel and while people throw the word "epic" around all the time (as in "epic" pizza [???]), this book truly is an epic story....battles, betrayals, romances, intrigue. Sometimes I would feel such anger as I read how women were treated/how they lived. I had trouble liking the Emperor Jahangir (Salilm) who as a youth, sat around getting drunk, ordering people around and sleeping with as many women as he could. He also poisoned his father, Emperor Akbar as he simply couldn't wait for his time to rule, and once he became emperor, he had a harem of 300 women. Those poor women, constantly covered up, waiting for what??? This guy to spend one night with them a year? In the meantime, they always had to hide behind a screen. They had every material comfort but no freedom. I think "the 20th wife" says it all! The main character, Mehrunnisa has to endure a first, arranged marriage to an awful war-monger of a man, and bow & acquiesce to many other men. This was just the way things were, and in some countries it still is! Despite cringing every time Mehrunnisa had to lower her eyes, cover herself, do the bidding of some guy... I admired her love for her family, her courage, perseverance and intelligence. In the end she marries the emporer and as history tells it, becomes a true partner to Jahangir, wielding great power in the empire.