 Power, Intrigue and Love Behind the VeilIndu Sundaresan brings to life historic moments when, despite daunting cultural constraints, Indian women have changed the path of history. With a flair and enthusiasm for history and culture, Sundaresan's richly detailed Taj Mahal trilogy brings readers deep into the lives of Indian women. The Twentieth Wife, The Feast of Roses, and Shadow Princess are accurately researched and skillfully drawn re-creations of powerful women working from behind the veil in the Mughal dynasty.
 Just released: Shadow Princess: book three in the Taj Mahal trilogy
Award-winning NW author Indu Sundaresan has just released the latest in her vivid, carefully researched trilogy set in seventeenth century India. In Shadow Princess the Taj Mahal is raised, and casts a deep shadow on the daughters of the entombed empress.
Meticulously researched, and set amidst the splendor and luxury of the world's most opulent court, Shadow Princess has been called Sundaresan's best work yet, a tale of a lone woman who is powerful, rich, and omnipotent in her father's harem, but who fails to turn the course of India's history, and must find her happiness in unconventional ways.
Praise
"Sundaresan has a scholar's fascination with the period; she's at her best describing the opulent court or the construction of the Taj Mahal." — Publishers Weekly
 Feast of Roses: book two in the Taj Mahal trilogy
Based on historical record and early travelers' tales to India, The Feast of Roses is the story of the most powerful woman in the Mughal dynasty. The love story of Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa, begun in the critically-praised Twentieth Wife, continues in Indu Sundaresan's lush second novel, The Feast of Roses. Raised to power by the Emperor's true love, his twentieth wife holds vast sway over the Mughal empire: modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and northern and central India.
Although living in an imperial harem, behind a veil, she shapes the destiny of the empire for seventeen years. In a time when women were never seen and rarely heard, Mehrunnisa has coins minted in her name, owns ships that ply the Arabian sea routes, signs on imperial orders and edicts, and builds some of the most wondrous Mughal monuments, tombs and gardens that still stand today in India.
During her years of power, every day is a struggle requiring strength of character and cunning, as she battles the Emperor's other wives, and ministers who will stop at nothing to usurp power. She makes use of the men she can rely upon—her father, her brother and step-son, until a turn of events leaves her without supporters just as she is most in need of help. Even her daughter becomes, at times, a pawn in her schemes. But the twentieth wife never loses the love and support of her husband, the Emperor. A fascinating tale of ambition, love, and power behind the veil.
Praise
"A bright addition to the new generation of women writers from India." — The Seattle Times
"Sundaresan is a gifted storyteller with an obvious passion for history." — USA Today
 The Twentieth Wife: book one in the Taj Mahal trilogy
The Twentieth Wife, winner of the 2003 Washington State Book Award, is a work of fiction rooted in historical fact and detail culled from accounts of seventeenth-century travelers to Emperor Jahangir's court and the memoirs of the Mughal kings.
Born in a nomad's tent as a winter storm rages, then abandoned by her penniless parents, a baby girl begins her journey to become one of the most powerful women in history. When the young orphan sees the Emperor's first wedding, she decides with the precocity of an eight-year-old that one day she will be his wife.
Time and again this hope seems impossible. She is forced into marriage with another man, sees her first husband slaughtered by the imperial army, is attacked by powerful courtiers and sabotaged by the other wives in the imperial harem. But at the "old" age of thirty-four, fitting none of the established norms, the Emperor chooses her as his twentieth—and last—wife. He marries her for love, and she becomes the person he loves and trusts beyond all others.
Praise
"More than just a love story, this novel offers a kaleidoscope of India's history and culture." — Booklist
"[A] fascinating novel about a fascinating time...characters that...move with grace and panache across the brilliant stage she has reconstructed." — Chitra Divakaruni, author of The Mistress of Spices
" Full of jeweled beauties and crumbling ruins, satisfies every craving for the pomp and mystery of India's past." — Chicago Tribune
"Rich and realistic....A delicious story." The Seattle Times
About the Author
Indu Sundaresan was born and brought up in India. Her father, a fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force, and her grandfather, instilled in her a love of storytelling. Indu came to the U.S. for graduate school and holds an M.S. in operations research and an M.A. in economics. She is the author of: The Twentieth Wife (2002), winner of the WA State Book Award; The Feast of Roses (2003); The Splendor of Silence (2006); In the Convent of Little Flowers (2008) and Shadow Princess (2010). Her work has been translated into 17 languages.
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