The women of the Moghul Empire were not tame by any means. Nur Jahan, wife of Emperor Jahangir, hunted tigers, and when her husband fell under opium's spell, the queen is said to have exerted political power over the court.
Another bold woman of the empire was Mumtaz Mahal, whose memory is forever honored in the Taj Mahal. She accompanied her emperor husband Shah Jahan on military campaigns.
Perhaps it is only fitting that John Shors' historical novel, Beneath a Marble Sky, is narrated not from the peacock throne of Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal and ruled over the vast Moghul Empire, but through the eyes of a strong, Muslim woman. But which one?
Shors didn't pick the obvious choice, Mumtaz Mahal. He tells the story from the point of view of her eldest daughter, Princess Jahanara. Through her, the reader glimpses the royal court, sibling rivalry, servant loyalty and the order of things.
Jahanara also tells how her mother died, the pain her father felt afterward and his decline as an emperor and as a man.
Of course, there is another reason Shors picked Jahanara as the narrator: marketing. Historical fiction appeals mostly to women, he concedes in an interview from this Colorado home, where he also runs a public relations firm.
Shors' youngest brother lived in India and the author visited the Taj Mahal about five years ago. His brother told him the love story behind the Taj. "I was entranced by it," Shors said.
He said he spent a year researching the Moghul Empire, which invaded Hindustan in the 1500s, before he began writing. Shors was able to read emperors' journals, but as far as anyone knows, Princess Jahanara did not keep a diary.
But other books, mostly written by Indian authors, have examined the women of the Moghul royal court, such as the series written by Indu Sundaresan, The Twentieth Wife (Pocket Books) and The Feast of Roses (Atria Books).
Also exploring the princess' life is the children's book The Royal Diaries: Jahanara, Princess of Princesses, India, 1627 (Scholastic Press) by Kathryn Lasky.
Shors' account portrays Jahanara into adulthood and is vivid in detail, down to the mirrored rings the women wore so they could look at themselves.
Early in Beneath a Marble Sky, Shors sets up conflicts such as the rivalry between brothers Aurangzeb, who would imprison his father, and the gentle Dara, rightful heir to the throne.
Shors does take literary license with accuracy. For example, he has Jahanara falling in love with a man whom she can never marry, Isa, who Shors names as the architect of the Taj Mahal. Historians actually are in disagreement about the identity of the architect.
Beneath a Marble Sky sacrifices such details to tell a story of romance and passion. The result is a wonderful book if you want to escape to a foreign land while relaxing in your porch swing.
Babita Persaud is a Times staff writer.
"Beneath a Marble Sky: A Novel of the Taj Mahal," by John Shors, McPherson & Co., $24.95, 324 pages
