من عند Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part, ON, كندا من عند Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part, ON, كندا

I usually love historical fiction and expected to love this book, but it left me cold. Jahanara's voice didn't ring true to me. I was not surprised that it had been written by a man, who, by his own admission, found it difficult to write in the first person as a 17th century Hindustani woman. I did not feel the same way about Sayuri, the character in Memoirs of a Geisha, who felt very authentic.

** spoiler alert ** Eerie, unsettling and melancholic. It rattled me, and I pushed the book physically away from me as it ended, a sign of provocation. I was aware of feeling pity and derision for a couple of the characters; joy and pride in others. At one point, I thought: this event is my very worst nightmare come to fruition: feeling trapped on the edges of obscurity, voiceless. And I wonder what I would do to unquestionably make my presence known. In life..and after; and, how I could push through if, appallingly, I was discovered hovering among the in-between.