Every Rising Sun
A Retelling of the One Thousand and One Nights
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Named one of NPR's Books We Love
In this riveting take on One Thousand and One Nights, Shaherazade, at the center of her own story, uses wit and political mastery to navigate opulent palaces brimming with treachery and the perils of the Third Crusade as her Persian homeland teeters on the brink of destruction.
In twelfth century, Persia, clever and dreamy Shaherazade stumbles on the Malik’s beloved wife entwined with a lover in a sun-dappled courtyard. When Shaherazade recounts her first tale, the story of this infidelity, to the Malik, she sets the Seljuk Empire on fire.
Enraged at his wife’s betrayal, the once-gentle Malik beheads her. But when that killing does not quench his anger, the Malik begins to marry and behead a new bride each night. Furious at the murders, his province seethes on rebellion’s edge. To suppress her guilt, quell threats of a revolt, and perhaps marry the man she has loved since childhood, Shaherazade persuades her beloved father, the Malik’s vizier, to offer her as the next wife. On their wedding night, Shaherazade begins a yarn, but as the sun ascends she cuts the story short, ensuring that she will live to tell another tale, a practice she repeats night after night.
But the Malik’s rage runs too deep for Shaherazade to exorcise alone. And so she and her father persuade the Malik to leave Persia to join Saladin’s fight against the Crusaders in Palestine. With plots spun against the Seljuks from all corners, Shaherazade must maneuver through intrigue in the age’s greatest courts to safeguard her people. All the while, she must keep the Malik enticed with her otherworldly tales—because the slightest misstep could cost Shaherazade her head.
This suspenseful first-person retelling is vividly rendered through the voice of a fully imagined Shaherazade, a book lover whose late mother bestowed the gift of story that becomes her power. Created over fourteen years of writing and research, Jamila Ahmed’s gorgeously written debut is a celebration of storytelling and a love letter to the medieval Islamic world that brings to life one of the most enduring and intriguing woman characters of all time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ahmed debuts with a vibrant spin on the Arabian classic One Thousand and One Nights, foregrounding the political stratagems of Shaherazade, wife of the fumbling and murderous leader Seljuk Malik Shahryar. Shahryar, who killed his wife Fataneh after discovering her infidelity, beheads a new bride each day out of continued rage. Shaherazade hopes that by marrying Shahryar, she can put a stop to the "mad Malik, with a pile of dead girls at his feet." As in the original, Shaherazade avoids the fate of the Malik's previous brides by weaving an extraordinary series of serpentine tales, always careful to end on a cliffhanger. Djinns and magicians, psychic parrots, and other worlds unfold in her narration. In between the stories, a new romance buds—and it's as much a threat to Shaherazade's life as the possibility that Shahryar will grow bored with her stories. Ahmed is a shrewd observer of how Shaherazade navigates the strict gender roles and political uncertainty of her time. When the Seljuks go to war, supporting Sultan Saladin during the Crusades, Western readers familiar with the story of Richard the Lionheart will gain a new perspective on the battles over Jerusalem. Ahmed brings new life to Shaherazade's thrilling tales.
Customer Reviews
A pure joy to read
What a beautifully written book that was pure joy to read. I liked the Arabian Nights when I read it in my younger days, but I love this book. Shaharazad richly deserved this treatment.