Beginning in !627, Princess Jahanara, first daughter of Shah Jahan of India's Moghul Dynasty, writes in her diary about political intrigues, weddings, battles, and other experiences of her life. Includes historical notes on Jahanara's later life and on the Moghul Empire.

An amazing book about a girl who's dad is crowned emperor of India. Although, her stepgrandmother (the snake) coils into her dreams at night and in her dreams the grandmother tries to kill the younger brothers by biting them with her "fangs".

I bought Jahanara at a library sale and I've been reading it since then. I think the sale was before this summer. anyway, it's been an on and off book and I finished it yesterday.

Jahanara: Princess of Princesses Is one of The Royal Diaries books, i.e., it's about a real princess... this is historical fiction in the form of a diary. Jahanara, Begum Sahib, was the daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built for this favorite wife of his).

I kinda forget the whole book, but her diary is about life in the Harem, and being a princess that has to be constantly protected, and she kinda feels like a prisoner. I don't know why she feels this way, really. Ok, so people aren't allowed to touch her, and she doesn't have much um... well. I don't know, there's this one entry about her bathroom, which has all these jewels in the walls, and another about julabmost (...the rose kind kinda sounds gross). Because she is the Begum Sahib, she can never get married and have kids, so she feels very different from everyone else. About this time in India, though, the British were getting involved. She had a necklace of Queen Elizabeth I, whom she admired, and she keeps thinking about this english dude with blue eyes.

I wish I could give a better review (I don't remember everthing), but it's a pretty good book. It has a really sad ending though. Like... really sad. And it's a true story. Ish. I guess. I like these kind of books: The Royal Diaries, and the Dear America books, because they have all these historical stuffs in the back. ( )

I found the book quite enjoyable; it truly is a glance into another world. I never knew much about India's history, so this really helped me get an idea of that country's past. ( )

TAKEN FROM THE BOOK
My father has four wives, but I am the daughter of the one he loves most, Arjumand Banu Begum, I, too, am a Begum, a princess. My name is Jahanara, great-granddaughter of Akbar, the greatest Moghul ruler of India…
I have diamonds the size of my small toe, and rubies the size of beetles, I have thirty servants and eight elephants trained specially for me. I have everything except freedom. We are all of us imprisoned” my mother, my father, my younger brothers, and my younger sister. In tents hung with gold cloth, we drink form emerald-studded chalices and yet we are prisoners. ( )