The Twentieth Wife a historical novel set in India under the Mughal Empire in the 17th century. It chronicles the love between Mehrunnisa and Prince Salim. The author has stated that she based the story in factual information and took artistic license to fill in gaps where information was not available. This book had a list of main characters at the front, which was very helpful. I wish that it had listed all of the characters though – so many of them had similar names that it could get confusing at times.

This is not only a love story but a story of women’s roles in the Empire and how they were able to influence and shape history even though they didn’t have any official power or really any rights at all. Learning about 17th century Indian/Muslim culture was fascinating, especially since I was so ignorant of it prior to reading this book.

I loved this book and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, The Feast of Roses.