When Jindan notices a beautiful horse outside her window, she goes to meet it, sugar in hand. Little does she know her new friend is owned by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire. Charmed by her knowledge, the maharaja returns and spends afternoons with her. They fall in love, then marry when she’s of age. Jindan quickly becomes the favored queen and bears a son. However, after first losing her husband and then the First Anglo-Sikh War, she is imprisoned and her son taken away. Escaping her prison, she travels like a servant through 800 miles of forest to find sanctuary in Nepal, waiting and planning for the day she can be reunited with her son.

The story opens in 1826 and follows Jindan’s life from a peasant to a queen to an exile to a rebel. Perhaps it could be defined as an Indian Cinderella story, but after marriage, Cinderella must defeat the encroaching British forces while guiding her son to become the next great maharaja. It’s fascinating to see this woman, in a country where women typically were restricted behind the purdah system, as a leader. Maharani Jindan held court, conducted business in public, and spoke to the army in person. While hard to imagine a happy marriage between an 18-year-old girl and the 55-year-old maharaja, the author pens a sweet love story. Jindan also loves her country and, most fiercely, her son. Times are hard for Jindan, but how she faces each challenge is outlined in this compelling, atmospheric narrative. The story illustrates that choices guided by love are the ones that make the most lasting impact. Recommended.

I'm a fan of Divakaruni's writing and love the way she entwines facts with fiction to present a well-written story. This book, however, felt like it was just skimming the surface of the magnanimous life of Maharani Jindan Kaur and instead read like a series of unfortunate events. The premise was very promising but plainly put, this book lacks the finesse of the author's previous novels.

This novel is a beautiful and heartbreaking glimpse into a period of time at the end of the Sikh Empire often overlooked in Western literature. Immerse yourself in the story of Jindan, the last queen of India's Sikh Empire.

Oh my! This book is a refreshing breath of fresh air in the historical fiction world. For too long authors have largely focused their efforts on the royal families of Europe and Russia. Divakaruni provides readers with the deliciously textured lives of the royal family of the Sikh Empire in what is now Punjab, Pakistan. This book focuses on the wife of the last autonomous maharaja of Punjab, Maharani Jind Kaur. Divakaruni deftly unravels a love story between Jind and Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Readers will be awed by the sumptuousness of the palace and the luxuries that the wives were accustomed to. As Jind weaved her way through palace intrigue, she learned the complexities of competing religious factions and how that impacted political decisions. When her son Dalip rose to the position of Maharara, Jind used every lesson she had ever gleaned from her husband to strengthen her son's position against the pressure of the rival British forces. She fought her entire life to preserve her son's heritage and continue her husband's legacy. From the writing style, to the richness of the culture, to the strength of its main character, this book is a fantastic read!

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.