In the Palace of Flowers, Victoria Princewill
In the Palace of Flowers, Victoria Princewill
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In the Palace of Flowers

Author: Victoria Princewill

Narrator: Etta Fusi

Unabridged: 10 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/23/2021


Synopsis

Sex and friendship, ambition and political intrigue, secrets and betrayal will set the fate of two slaves—Jamila and Abimelech—in this ground-breaking debut novel.

Inspired by the only existing first-person narrative of an Abyssinian slave in Iran, Jamila Habashi, In the Palace of Flowers recreates the opulent Persian royal court of the Qajars at the end of the nineteenth century. This is a precarious time of growing public dissent, foreign interference from the Russians and British, and the problem of an aging ruler and his unsuitable heir.

Torn away from their families, Jamila, a concubine, and Abimelech, a eunuch, now serve at the whims of the royal family, only too aware of their own insignificance in the eyes of their masters. Abimelech and Jamila’s quest to take control over their lives and find meaning leads to them navigating the dangerous politics of the royal court, and to the radicals that lie beyond its walls.

Richly textured and elegantly written, at its heart In the Palace of Flowers is a novel about the fear of being forgotten.

Reviews

This novel takes a snippet of recorded history and explores it in depth, through the realm of fiction. Jamila Habashi was an Abyssinian slave in Iran and wrote the only known first person account of someone in her position; In the Palace of Flowers imagines what the life of such a slave would have b......more

Booktrail the locations in the novel Transports the reader to the dangerous yet fascinating Persian Royal Court Victoria Princewill has done some very clever research here. She weaves this into the novel, her story with such a light touch though, you don’t realise the exquisite detail and history you......more

Goodreads review by Swati

In the fag end of the 19th century, women from Abyssinia, Ethiopia, Zanzibar and other places used to serve as slaves in Qajar-ruled Iran. They were a prominent presence in the upper echelons of society, and they worked in varied roles like house servants, guards, eunuchs who were protectors of the......more

Goodreads review by 2TReads

3.5/4 stars 'I do not simply want out. I want. Our minds are not mere basins for our memories.' -Jamila The prose is rich, the setting sumptuous, decadent with an underlying desire for more on the part of our main characters. Princewill aptly captures the spaces that slaves occupy, whether it be......more