“The Twentieth Wife” and “The Feast of Roses” - Indu Sundaresan

 🌹 I read these two books over a decade ago, but after reading “Shadow Princess” I can recall vividly how much I enjoyed both (I loved the plot of TW the most, but FOR was excellent too).

🌹TW recounts the remarkable tale of how an outsider to Mughal India, Mehrunissa, came to be Nur Jahan, the twentieth (and arguably most beloved and powerful) of Emperor Jahangir’s wives. Jahangir is the father of Shah Jahan. If you’ve seen my review of the third book, you’ll recall that their relationship becomes fraught. 

🌹 FOR details Mehrunissa’s rise to dominance of the imperial zenana. Mughal royal women were not meant to be seen by outsiders, hence the elaborate jalis constructed in the women’s quarters whereby they could listen in to court proceedings without being seen. Though they were meant to remain unseen, the power of the dominant woman in the zenana was indisputable as she could see and hear all, and quietly pull strings to achieve her desired outcomes. FOR ends with a fall from power as abrupt as its meteoric rise. Mehrunissa brokers her niece Arjumand’s (Mumtaz Mahal) to Jahangir’s son Shah Jahan as a favor to her brother. But later, Mehrunissa backs the prince who is married to her daughter from her first marriage, to succeed Emperor Jahangir. For this, she earns Shah Jahan’s forever enmity. Eventually, he exiles her into utter isolation in faraway Lahore thus preventing her from exerting influence.

In FOR we don’t see much interaction between Arjumand and Mehrunissa. No spoilers here, but Sundaresan picks up the thread in SP. The reader feels the full impact of the diminishing of Mehrunissa’s fiery light to a mere flicker, in the third book in the series.