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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Mulberry Empireby Philip Hensher
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In the spring of 1839, some fifty thousand British forces entered Afghanistan with “the full pomp of Empire,” possessed of the certainty that they would replace the Amir with someone less hostile toward their ally, the King of the Punjab. Three years later, a single British horseman rode out of the Afghan mountains into India—the sole survivor of the original vast contingent. The Mulberry Empire is the magnificently told story of this conflict—of the events that surrounded it, of the politics and people on both sides, of the passions and pride that led to the destruction of the British and the triumph of the Afghans. At the center: Alexander Burnes—a British explorer who ventures into the fabled city of Kabul, befriends the all-powerful Amir, and returns to England a hero. The bearer of amazing stories, he is unwitting emissary to and from both nations, neither of which can see how his impressions will change their worlds. And there is Bella Garraway, whose upper-class, predictable life will be wholly undone—leaving her with nothing, and then everything—when her path crosses Burnes’s. Around them, a superbly wrought cast of characters: English, Russian, Indian, Afghan, Persian—a shifting universe of men and women, the powerful and the pawns, caught in a vortex of history. Spanning a decade and moving between London and Calcutta, St. Petersburg and Kabul, The Mulberry Empire is a brilliant synthesis of fact and imagination, as rich in the details of history and place as it is in the complexities and drama of human nature. It is an unexpectedly timely, masterful novel of fidelity and dreams, belief and chance, an epic of empires built and lost, and built again. Review:“Deeply human, gorgeous, glittering. . . . A huge, perhaps unique achievement.” –Independent on Sunday Review:“Irresistible. . . . Loaded with exotic local detail, from London to Calcutta, St. Petersburg to Kabul.” –Daily Mail Review:“Feverishly learned. . . . Riotously fertile. . . . [Hensher’s] Afghanistan is often strikingly imagined, as are his characters. . . . A giant compendium of Victorian styles, an empire of allusions.” –Chicago Tribune Review:“Hensher depicts with Tolstoyan brio the terrifying chaos and dizzy unpredictability of war [and] reaffirms our confidence in the novel to shock, to challenge and, most usefully, to stir political change.” –St. Louis Post-Dispatch Review:“Wonderfully entertaining. . . . An expansive and ambitious novel, full of wit and intelligence, masterfully capturing a moment in history that reverberates to this day. . . . The Mulberry Empire is a joy.” –Toronto Star From the Trade Paperback edition. Review:“A joy to read for its structure, the scope of its conception and its imaginative use of historical detail. . . . You will be hooked.” –The Plain Dealer Review:“A grand tableaux. . . . Remarkably subtle. . . . Big, colorful and clearly timely. . . . [Hensher] is a splendid stylist.” –The Sunday Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) Review:“[A] fine, fine work. . . . Masterfully drawn. . . . [Hensher] creates a distinct sense of a moment in history.” –Minneapolis Star Tribune Review:“Brilliantly realised. . . . A delightful entertainment, a timely social and political commentary, and a highly literary and ambitious novel.” –Ahdaf Soueif, The Guardian Review:“A remarkable achievement. . . . The rich imagery and the vivid characterization of a splendidly varied cast make The Mulberry Empire a truly tremendous read.” –Mail on Sunday Review:“Everything is massive, sumptuously-made and finished, the characters rich, lively and unexpected, the decor Victorian in its precision, variety and profusion.” –Evening Standard Review:“Ambitious. . . . His lush descriptions are a testament to his imagination’s ability to grow a few seeds of historical truth into a verdant narrative.” –The Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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