This story is as intricate as a naqsha for an elaborate tapestry. In a time of turbulence, drought and famine, a man nearing his end starts narrating the story—spanning through generations—of his family’s life, even as the saga neatly intertwines with historical events. The book, which is the second of four in the series ‘The Delhi Quartet’, begins with the declining days of the Delhi Sultanate and ends with Akbar winning the Second Battle of Panipat.
Its prequel The Garden of Heaven has a magnificent stone frieze that plays an important part in both Book One and Two. The frieze is sold due to misjudgement by a character. Repenting soon enough, he entrusts the job of finding the frieze to his nephew, who then moves to Delhi in order to do so, where he is joined by his wife Aabida.
Aabida changes the fortunes of her family. Through pluck and enterprise, she sets up a brocade workshop. She also manages to gain entry into the royal court to sell pieces from her workshop.
This relationship with the court lasts many generations and of course, the fortunes of the former impacts the latter. Real-life characters interact with the fictional seamlessly. It is the meeting between Aabida and Bibi Ambha, the Hindu wife of Bahlol Lodhi, who is the Sultan ruling Delhi, that paves the way for the former to start selling pieces from the workshop to the court.
Aabida also manages to get a job for her husband in the process. This relationship between the royal court and the workshop, .