Beneath a Marble Sky

By: John Shors

Narrated by: Mozhan Marno

In 1632, the Emperor of Hindustan, Shah Jahan, overwhelmed with grief over the death of his beloved wife, Mumatz Mahal, commissioned the building of a grand mausoleum to symbolize the greatness of their love. The story surrounding the construction of the Taj Mahal occurs, however, against a scrim of fratricidal war, murderous rebellion, unimaginable wealth, and, not least of all, religious fundamentalism ruthlessly opposing tolerance and coexistence between the disparate peoples in the empire. At that time, Hindustan comprised all of modern Pakistan and Kashmir, most of eastern Afghanistan, and two-thirds of the Indian subcontinent (roughly north of Bombay to the Himalayas). Beneath a Marble Sky, narrated by Princess Jahanara, eldest daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, recounts their story, and her own as well, a parallel tale of forbidden love enduring censure and extreme deprivations. Beneath a Marble Sky brims with action and intrigue befitting an epic era when, alongside continuous war, architecture and its attendant arts reached a pinnacle of perfection. In a splendid debut, John Shors has crafted an immensely listenable and well-researched historical novel of surprisingly contemporary relevance.

©2004 John Shors (P)2012 Recorded Books

Excellent read

Beautiful narration, perfect especially in this story! captivating story, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Highly recommend!

Beneath a Marble Sky

A very long book!! Had some sad parts in it but I enjoyed it. You could close your eyes and imagine the Taj Mahal being built stone by stone. Whether true or fiction an interesting story.

Sweeping, though cliché historical tale.

The story was not a "page-turner" and by that I mean I was able to turn it off at any time and wasn't compelled to listen any chance I got. this narrator used strange acting voices that didn't seem appropriate to the time, tone, story or character. Pauses /edits were obvious and not well timed. The audio had skips and repeated sentences.

Beautiful story and great performance

I really enjoyed this audio book. It's a beautiful fictional story with a little bit of history in it. The author did a great job developing the main characters.

Okay book, not as great as I hoped

The author did a great job with female voices but her male voice was a bit off for me. A bit heavy on violence and sex for my liking but the possible history of the taj mahal was what I wanted. It did peak my curiosity to look further into the history of modern wonder of the world.