About the Book: The Begum and the Dastan
Lined with grandeur, tragedy, and fantasy, Tarana Husain Khans odyssey maps the
social, political and religious contours of 1897 Sherpur with the fascinating
and strong-willed Feroza Begum at the centre of the storm.
On an evening not too many evenings ago, the blue-eyed Feroza flouted her
familys orders to attend Nawab Shams Ali Khans sawani celebrations at the
Benazir Palace. Tragedy coloured the night when she found herself kidnapped and
withheld in the Nawabs harem bustling, enchanting, and rife with insidious
gossip and power plays. As tyranny and repression tightened their hold inside
the royal walls, outside at the Bazaar