Anita Amirrezvani Book order

From the author of the internationally bestselling The Blood of Flowers comes a compulsively readable and gorgeously crafted tale of power, loyalty, intrigue, and love in the royal court of sixteenth-century Iran.Legendary women—from Anne Boleyn to Queen Elizabeth I to Mary, Queen of Scots—changed the course of history in the royal courts of sixteenth-century England. They are celebrated in history books and novels, but few people know of the powerful women in the Muslim world, who formed alliances, served as key advisers to rulers, lobbied for power on behalf of their sons, and ruled in their own right. In Equal of the Sun, Anita Amirrezvani’s gorgeously crafted tale of power, loyalty, and love in the royal court of Iran, she brings one such woman to life, Princess Pari Khan Khanoom Safavi.Iran in 1576 is a place of wealth and dazzling beauty. But when the Shah dies without having named an heir, the court is thrown into tumult. Princess Pari, the Shah’s daughter and protégé, knows more about the inner workings of the state than almost anyone, but the princess’s maneuvers to instill order after her father’s sudden death incite resentment and dissent. Pari and her closest adviser, Javaher, a eunuch able to navigate the harem as well as the world beyond the palace walls, are in possession of an incredible tapestry of secrets and information that reveals a power struggle of epic proportions.Based loosely on the life of Princess Pari Khan Khanoom, Equal of the Sun is a riveting story of political intrigue and a moving portrait of the unlikely bond between a princess and a eunuch. Anita Amirrezvani is a master storyteller, and in her lustrous prose this rich and labyrinthine world comes to vivid life with a stunning cast of characters, passionate and brave men and women who defy or embrace their destiny in a Machiavellian game played by those who lust for power and will do anything to attain it.

"In rural Iran, a spirited village girl approaches the age of marriage, only to find her destiny shattered after a fiery comet blazes ominously across the desert sky. On the death of her beloved father, the young woman and her distraught mother are forced into a difficult new life in the fabled city of Isfahan. Taken in as house servants by her uncle Gostaham, a well-to-do carpet designer, and his demanding wife, the two women confront an unforgiving world." "When the heroine blossoms as a brilliant maker of carpets under her uncle's tutelage, the future brightens. But disaster strikes again when an impetuous act results in the heroine's disgrace, forcing her into a secret marriage. If she is to thrive, she must risk the family's reputation and rely on her artistic genius, and her extraordinary will, to save herself and her mother." "Seventeenth-century Iran comes alive in all its splendour and cultural nuance in this luminous novel. The bustle of bazaars overflowing with rosewater and saffron; the breathtakingly beautiful silk and gold rugs of the Shah's carpet workshop; and Isfahan's incomparable bridges, gardens, teahouses, and hammams: all are captured here."--BOOK JACKET.