The Mulberry Empire - Hardcover

Hensher, Philip

3.36

387 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375414886 ISBN 13: 9780375414886

Publisher: Knopf, 2002

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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.

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From the Back Cover:

“A rich and rumbling . . . historical novel . . . moving deftly between Afghanistan, England and Russia. . . . Beautifully drawn.” –The New York Times Book Review

“A book of epic ambition. . . . The Mulberry Empire contains, like one of those glinting gold leaf domes in Central Asia, clusters of jewels, elegantly calligraphed wisdom and pleasing lines.” –The Washington Post Book World

“Brilliantly composed. . . . Splendid. . . . A wonderfully rendered historical novel.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“Stunningly accurate. . . . Full of riches. . . . Inspires an endless procession of gasps.” –The Christian Science Monitor

“[A] fine, fine work. . . . Masterfully drawn. . . . [Hensher] creates a distinct sense of a moment in history.” –Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Prepare to be dazzled. . . . The Mulberry Empire is . . . executed with flair, confidence and great energy. . . . It’s a really terrific read and one hell of an achievement.” –Daily Telegraph

“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

“Brilliantly realised. . . . A delightful entertainment, a timely social and political commentary, and a highly literary and ambitious novel.” –Ahdaf Soueif, The Guardian

“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

“[A] wonderfully dramatic and idiosyncratic epic [with a] splendid cast of larger-than-life characters.” –Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered (NPR)

“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

“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

“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

“Exuberant, overflowing with life, highly-coloured, entrancing: a novel to lose yourself in.” –The Scotsman

“A grand tableaux. . . . Remarkably subtle. . . . Big, colorful and clearly timely. . . . [Hensher] is a splendid stylist.” –The Sunday Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)

“Irresistible. . . . Loaded with exotic local detail, from London to Calcutta, St. Petersburg to Kabul.” –Daily Mail

“Deeply human, gorgeous, glittering. . . . A huge, perhaps unique achievement.” –Independent on Sunday

“Lavish. . . . Engaging. . . . A panorama of the age of imperialism [with] a wealth of interesting cross-cultural insights.” –The Baltimore Sun

“Everything is massive, sumptuously-made and finished, the characters rich, lively and unexpected, the decor Victorian in its precision, variety and profusion.” –Evening Standard

“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.

About the Author:

Philip Hensher is a critic and the author of four other works of fiction, including Kitchen Venom, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award. He is a columnist for The Independent and chief book reviewer for The Spectator. He lives in South London.

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