Our next book is
Equal of the Sun by Anita Amirrezvani
Scribner, trade paperback, $17
[Additional info]
Discussion is on April 2, 7:00 PM, at the Panera at 5940 Fairview, right near SouthPark Mall. If you need more info, please contact Kristen Knox at whitreidsmama@yahoo.com .
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.
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Our meetings take place on the first Tuesday of each month, 7 PM at the Panera on Fairview near SouthPark. We have chosen books to take us through to next October when there will be a new Great Group Reads list released. Here’s what we’ve read and will be reading:
December 4: I Married You For Happiness by Lily Tuck [click here for more info about our discussion]
January 8: The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin [click here for more info about our discussion]
February 5: Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall
March 5: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
April 2: Equal of the Sun by Anita Amirrezvani
May 7: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeannette Winterson
June 4: An Age of Madness by David Maine
July 2: The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
August 6: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
September 3: Boleto by Alison Hagy
October 1: In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
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