A REIMAGINING OF THE WORLD-FAMOUS INDIAN EPIC, THE MAHABHARAT—TOLD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF AN AMAZING WOMAN. Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale. The Palace of Illusions traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female redefining for us a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate.

The Ramayana, one of the world’s greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita’s version. The Forest of Enchantments is also a very human story of some of the other women in the epic, often misunderstood and relegated to the margins: Kaikeyi, Surpanakha, Mandodari. A powerful comment on duty, betrayal, infidelity and honour, it is also about women’s struggle to retain autonomy in a world that privileges men, as Chitra transforms an ancient story into a gripping, contemporary battle of wills. While the Ramayana resonates even today, she makes it more relevant than ever, in the underlying questions in the novel: How should women be treated by their loved ones? What are their rights in a relationship? When does a woman need to stand up and say, ‘Enough!’

‘Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara, Mandodari – each of the Pancha Kanyas is fascinating ... Koral Dasgupta’s wonderful retelling adds to this corpus, with a lyrical and poetic quality’ BIBEK DEBROYTHE THIRD BOOK IN THE EXCEPTIONAL FIVE-PART SATI SERIES BY KORAL DASGUPTADraupadi is immortalized as the beloved princess of Panchal and the queen of Indraprastha in Indian myth and legend. Yet what do we really know of the fire-born queen’s dreams? What were her true desires?In Koral Dasgupta’s thrilling new interpretation, Draupadi’s interior story, often relegated to the margins, is vividly foregrounded – from her unique friendship with Krishna, unconventional marriage to the Pandav brothers, to her quirky relationships with Kunti and Bhishma, and her deep passion for building a loving home. Bold, intimate and immersive, it thrusts the reader straight into the heart and mind of an unforgettable heroine from the Mahabharat, who remains both contemporary and timeless.***In the Sati series, Koral Dasgupta explores the lives of the Pancha Kanyas from the Hindu epics and reinvents them with a feminist consciousness.Praise for the Sati series‘Magical and thought-provoking’ CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI‘Enigmatic’ NAMITA GOKHALE‘A must for those wishing to know about our past and the dialectics of gender within it’ PAVAN K. VARMA