Jahanara: Princess Of Princesses: India, 1627 (The Royal Diaries)

I bought Jahanara at a library sale and I've been reading it since then. I think the sale was before this summer. anyway, it's been an on and off book and I finished it yesterday.

Jahanara: Princess of Princesses Is one of The Royal Diaries books, i.e., it's about a real princess... this is

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historical fiction in the form of a diary. Jahanara, Begum Sahib, was the daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built for this favorite wife of his).

I kinda forget the whole book, but her diary is about life in the Harem, and being a princess that has to be constantly protected, and she kinda feels like a prisoner. I don't know why she feels this way, really. Ok, so people aren't allowed to touch her, and she doesn't have much um... well. I don't know, there's this one entry about her bathroom, which has all these jewels in the walls, and another about julabmost (...the rose kind kinda sounds gross). Because she is the Begum Sahib, she can never get married and have kids, so she feels very different from everyone else. About this time in India, though, the British were getting involved. She had a necklace of Queen Elizabeth I, whom she admired, and she keeps thinking about this english dude with blue eyes.

I wish I could give a better review (I don't remember everthing), but it's a pretty good book. It has a really sad ending though. Like... really sad. And it's a true story. Ish. I guess. I like these kind of books: The Royal Diaries, and the Dear America books, because they have all these historical stuffs in the back.

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Beginning in !627, Princess Jahanara, first daughter of Shah Jahan of India's Moghul Dynasty, writes in her diary about political intrigues, weddings, battles, and other experiences of her life. Includes historical notes on Jahanara's later life and on the Moghul Empire.

I loved the detail of this book and how I could be there with the royal family.

Much like the author, I didn't know much about Indian culture before reading this book, so this really opened my eyes to it. I didn't know stuff like this was still happening there in the 1600 and 1700s? Like, it seems so recent to me? I don't know how to explain it. But the main point -- I liked

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the book, I really, really did. I liked the main character, I liked her family. Overall it kept me engaging and I was sort of sad to see it end, really. I would recommend this book to children to read for sure. 4 out of 5 stars.

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