Anil Menon reviews 'The Begum and the Dastan' by Tarana Husain Khan
Cavils apart, this is an immersive novel, remarkable for the thoroughly Muslim world it creates The Begum and the Dastan could have been titled ‘The Begum & Her Bluebeard’. Bluebeard has many wives — Scheherazade, Jane Eyre, Rebecca — and their stories are a disjointed, inverted version of the classic fairy tale: a hasty marriage, then a wooing, curiosity, secrets, and finally, a husband who’s revealed to be a monster. The Bluebeard in Tarana Husain Khan’s story is Nawab Shams Ali Khan, ruler of the princely state of Sherpur. Like all the wives in the Bluebeard tales, the Nawab...
Source: thehindu.com