The Mulberry Empire
by Philip Hensher
description:
“In the spring of 1839, some fifty thousand British forces entered Afghanistan with “the full pomp of the 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 vertex 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 expectedly timely, masterful novel of fidelity and dreams, belief and chance, an epic of empires built and lost, and built again.”
Giveaway Info: 1 hardcover copy. Open to all. Ends November 22, 2009.
Hello, my name is Arleigh... welcome to my book review site! Here you will find author guest posts, book news, reviews and various articles on the genre. My favorite author is Jean Plaidy, of whom I have built a 
This looks fascinating – I love Asian history…
janemaritz at yahoo dot com
This sounds really interesting.
srfbluemama at gmail dot com
Count me in! My e-mail is on my profile!
Please count me in! My email is booklustblogger [at] gmail [dot] com.
Pick me! My email is in my profile.
I’d love to win!
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I would love to win this one.
Would love to add this to my book collection. Please count me in.
I would love to be entered in your draw. Thanks!
This is a truly amazing book that vividly brought to life the period of the First Afghan War. I could not help but notice the cockiness of the British–their certainty that they would defeat the less technologically advanced Afghans–and how rudely this is shattered by the Afghan Amir’s son, who harasses the British survivors as they flee to India. Afghanistan is not an easy country to conquer and hold–ask the Mughals!
Please enter me, i’d love to read this historical fiction book!
rubs.escalona [at] gmail.com
You give away such gorgeous books. Thank you for your generosity. I am a follower as well. Please count me in.
sounds like an interesting book. would love to get one copy, count me in.
laraa.corona [at] gmai.com
I love to read THE MULBERRY EMPIRE.
I would love to read THE MULBERRY EMPIRE. Sorry about the two posts.
teakettle58atyahoodotcom
I would like to be entered into your drawing for this book. I enjoy historical and historical fiction works.
O wow! This is going on my TBR wish list. Thanks for the giveaway!
nycbookgirl at gmail dot com
Sounds good, I’d like to be included!
This is an aspect of history I have never read about. I’d like to be entered to win!
jdq1175@aol.com
Sounds like a very interesting read, I’d love the chance to be entered in the giveaway! Thanks for making it available!
zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net
Thanks for the giveaway!
s.mickelson at gmail dot com
I would LOVE to read this book…
karen k
kmkuka(at)yahoo(dot)com
Please count me in.
inesgneves[at]gmail[dot]com
I would love to be entered in your draw. Thanks.
Hello Arleigh – I’m a British author and a fellow member of Bookblogs, and I wanted to invite you (and your readers) to participate in my Blogsplash – there’s more information at http://www.fionarobyn.com/thawblogsplash.htm. Thanks for listening!
This looks like a great book, I would la la LOVE to win! xo
That first paragraph is absolutely captivating!
:O
carlos_durao AT hotmail DOT com
Do count me in, please!
dr.strangelove.vs.citizen.kane
@
gmail.com
I’d love to read some of the backstory to what’s going on in Afghanistan — thanks!
teabird17 ^at^ yahoo dot com
This looks great! Please enter me!
BethsBookReviewBlog AT gmail DOT com
Oh, another great giveaway!
educhico AT gmail DOT com
Fantastic!
jafantunes(at)sapo(.)pt
Oh, goody!
o_rei_de_havana[@]hotmail[.]com
Sounds good! Please enter me!
I’d love to read this book! Thanks!
This looks like a very unique read. I’d like to enter. Thanks
tokemise@hotmail.com
sounds like a good book. Please include me in your giveaway
bluebelle0367(at)hotmail(dot)com
Anothe good one!
catarina DOT magoito AT gmail DOT com
Wonderful! Count me in!
39(dot)5susy(at)gmail(dot)com
One more trying his luck!
goncalo.mil
@
gmail.com
Thanks for this chance!
joanapatriciadias [@gmail.com]
Good luck everyone!
tanitalves [@] sapo [.] pt