Mansions of the Moon

Book excerpt: A Guardian Summer Book Pick • A CBC Best Canadian Fiction Book of The Year • A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year • The breathtaking reimagining of ancient India through the extraordinary life of Yasodhara, the woman who married the Buddha—from the bestselling, award-winning author of Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR In this sweeping tale, Shyam Selvadurai introduces us to Siddhartha Gautama—who will later become “the enlightened one,” or the Buddha—a bright and politically astute young man settling into his upper-caste life as a newlywed to Yasodhara, a woman of great intelligence and spirit. From the couple’s early love and life together, and the anguished turmoil that descends upon them as Siddhartha’s spiritual calling takes over, Yasodhara is forced to ask what kind of life a woman can lead in ancient India if her husband abandons her—even a well-born woman such as herself. And is there a path she, too, might take towards enlightenment? A vivid portrait of a captivating time and place, the intricate web of power, family and relationships that surround a singular marriage, and the remarkable woman who, until now, has remained a little-understood shadow in the historical record, Mansions of the Moon is a thrilling feat of literary imagination.