Jahanara
by Lyane Guillaume

(ISBN:81-88661-02-3 ~ Pub Year: 2003 ~ Pages:300 ~ Binding: Paperback ~ Publisher: EastWest Books)

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Jahanara was the daughter of the Emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. As an adolescent, she had reveled in the unparalleled splendour of the Mughal court; but the young princess soon began to yearn for love, which was out of her reach because of an ancient imperial decree which forbade the marriage of Mughal princesses… also, because her father fell in love with her.

Though Lyane Guillaume’s piquant recreation, in French, of the life of Jahanara is a work of fiction, it is based on exact documentation. The language is inspired by the Persian written by Jahanara, with its ornate flourishes and picturesque imagery.

Set against the backdrop of the grandeur and decadence of the Mughal Empire, Jahanara is the story of a royal family plagued by fratricidal wars, murders, treason, incest, and the intrigues of the seraglio.

It is a magnificent fresco, richly coloured, infused with the perfumes of the palaces, gardens, and harems of mediaeval India; and is dominated by an unforgettable heroine, beautiful, intelligent and passionate, who became a force to be reckoned with during the Mughal Empire’s last blaze of glory.


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