Politics and passion fill the pages of Kunal Basu’s exquisite new novel, a richly imagined tale as detailed and sumptuous as the paintings it evokes. Bihzad is the most gifted and the most wayward member in the royal workshop, the son of the chief artist at the court of Akbar, the Great Mughal. When the emperor decides to move the court from Agra to his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri, he takes the brilliant young man with him. Everyone expects that he will one day inherit his father’s position. But Bihzad’s glittering career is brought to an abrupt end by an unpardonable crime born of unrequited love. Banished from Hindustan, he will return years later, penniless and blind, to paint his last picture: a portrait of the dying emperor, Akbar, who had cast him out of his empire and his heart.
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