Beneath a Marble Sky (Taschenbuch)

All that really matters when you pick up this novel is that you have seen a picture of the Taj Mahal (it is not like there is a bad one). It does not matter whether or not you know that it is a mausoleum or that it honors the Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal, because what is important is that if you have seen it you know the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful buildings on the planet, a sublime mix of architectural magnificence and aesthetic beauty, and this historical romance is about how it came to be built. When the Taj Mahal is a tomb, then the great pyramids of Giza are reduced to just being piles of big blocks.

The narrator of "Beneath a Marble Sky" is Jahanara, the daughter of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and because Jahanara his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who tells her story and that of her family to her granddaughters, who are visiting the Taj Mahal for the first time. The tale begins when she was thirteen and beginning to appreciate how difficult it is to be a woman in a man's world. It seems she will be a spectator to both the great love between her parents and the contention between two of her brothers for her father's throne. Dara is a student of philosophy and religion believes that Muslims and Hindus can life together in harmony, while Aurangzeb is a ruthless warrior and puritanical zealot who wants to extend the borders of the Empire in all directions and send unbelievers to their richly deserved deaths.

When his beloved wife dies the emperor hires a talented young architect, Ustad Isa, to build her a beautiful memorial, the Rauza-I Munavvara ("Tomb of Light"). As the Taj Mahal rises, the conflict between the two brothers comes to a head, but the fate of the empire comes second to that of Jahanara and who has her own love story. When you get to the heart of this novel and why it works it is because Shors comes up with an elegant explanation for why a man would be inspired by a dead woman he has never seen to create the most beautiful building on earth. At the same time Shors remains faithful to the cultures and the poetic rhythms of the languages they speak.

A key part of what makes this novel work is that it is really another tale from the Arabian Nights. Those fabled 1001 tales came from three cultures, Arabic, Persian, and Indian, while this novel set in Hindustan represents a culture clash between two of those three as a Muslim emperor rules a predominantly Hindu land. However the idea that this is another Scheherazade story matters because the characters and events are slightly larger than life. We are, after all, talking about a beautiful Muslim princess along with the course of an empire.

There was a point in the narrative where I found myself questioning that Jahanara's parents would ever marry their beloved daughter to such a wretched soul as Khondair. A reason was given, but the validity of it was implicit at best and it was only when it dawned on me that this is a tale writ as large as Aladdin and Ali Baba that I realized history and realism were not the standards by which "Beneath a Marble Sky" is to be judged. This is an epic romance even if it is told in deeply intimate terms and while it is not a fantasy it is touched by the exotic, which tempers fidelity to the history around which Shors has crafted his own work.

Final Notes: First, I noticed one of the best web sites devoted to the Taj Mahal mentions this book. It should, because it is going to inspire a lot of people to go to Agar. Maybe not as many as are currently heading to New Zealand to visit Middle Earth, but a sizeable number nonetheless. Second, I have to wonder what in the world John Shors will write next after this one. Where does he go from here? It will be interesting to find out and there will be a lot of people looking forward to that next book after reading "Beneath a Marble Sky."