![]() ![]() ![]() In writing this book, Amirrezvani is not only bringing forward an often-forgotten story of one woman’s rule, but she is also working to re-narrate how the West has come to understand gender in both a Persianate setting as well as in a historical setting. The first-person narrator of the novel is a eunuch, Javaher, who becomes a key political figure in the court during Pari Khan Khanom’s time in charge. In Equal of the Sun, those people include both the eunuchs who played such an important role in court politics of Safavid Iran, as well as Pari Khan Khanom herself. Equal of the Sun begins to fill this lacuna.Īnita Amirrezvani’s self-proclaimed goal for her work is to “give voice to people who didn’t write their own stories” (Gilbert interview). Although Pari Khan Khanom was such an important historical figure, her story is largely absent both from contemporary memory of the time and from official histories. In this historical novel by Iranian-American Anita Amirrezvani, the reader learns of Pari Khan Khanom, the king’s favorite daughter, who not only played a vital role in securing an heir for her successor-less father but also directly governed during the interregnum. Equal of the Sun recounts the eventful period following the death of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp in 1576. ![]()
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