The Mulberry Empire

by Philip Hensher

Book Overview

With Tolstoyan sweep and Dickensian vitality, this epically involving historical novel relates England's tragic adventure in Afghanistan, which began with the triumphant arrival of the Army of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007112270
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Flamingo
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 1.3" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

A terrifically thought-provoking rendering of a history that relates to our day!

An astonishing achievement; this is filled with vivid detail, brilliantly realized characters, and a quiet, but unmistakably ominous message for our own miscalculated foreign enterprises. A wonderful novel on many levels!

The Mulberry Empire

An evocative novel of the British Raj, and the disastrous First Afghan War. By using actual participants of the period the author makes the story compelling and factual. The author's description of life in Kabul in the early ninetheen century is most believable.

An engaging, thought provoking historical epic

This is a highly engaging, well written epic. Hensher has produced an absorbing historical fiction of a point in time that has implications for our own times. His story of imperalism in central Asia during the 19th century is a timely commentary on current events. Hensher engages the reader with a broad cast of characters from diverse cultures, and the story interestingly moves among locales in Afghanistan, India, England, and Russia. While the story seems to ramble just somewhat in a few spots, this actually seems intentional as part of the broad sweep of historical events, cultures and people. While the author concedes that the story is loosely based on historical facts, his skill at describing events and locales, creating believable and interesting characters within believable plots, and attention to detail transports the reader into the overall story. This is truly an excellent, literary historical fiction.

A rich and absorbing epic

Ambitious and absorbing, British author Hensher's tale of the British invasion of Afghanistan in 1839 encompasses London "Seasons" and glittering Eastern palaces, dusty Kabul streets and English country estates. It takes place over ten years and, while centering on British explorer Alexander Burnes, shifts points of view among the London upper crust, a Russian emissary/adventurer, a supercilious English journalist, several merchants, Afghanistan's Amir, a homosexual British deserter, various misguided British officers, a brief appearance by a modern-day archaeologist coming upon a field of unburied bones, and more.Far from being confusing, this plethora of views grounds the novel in its time; a world which not only appears to be, but is, very different to Dost Mohammed, the Amir of Kabul, than it is to the serious and fashionable Bella Garraway, falling in love with Burnes at the height of his London Season, or to Burnes' younger brother on his first passage to India or to a nervous, charismatic Russian with a shadowy past. It's a story full of romance and treachery, politics and intrigue, merchant caravans, intrigue, imperialism and arrogance and war.The narrative moves at a leisurely pace, opening in Kabul with Burnes, passing his days as a virtual prisoner, awaiting an audience with the Amir Dost Mohammed. He is Britain's eyes and ears - the British are wondering whether the Amir should be replaced by an Afghan leader less hostile to their Indian allies. Impressed by the spare order of the Amir's court, the Afghan leader's canny questions and the welter of strange sensations and smells of Kabul, Burnes writes a book on his Eastern adventures and becomes the toast of London. He wins Bella's heart, but she retires to the country with a secret of her own as he travels East again, already replaced by the next London sensation.Worried by Russian incursions and influence, the British Governor General moves a massive army, complete with officers' wives, baggage and lapdogs, from the Punjab to Afghanistan. Meanwhile a digression to the Crimea introduces Vitkevich, a brilliant and mysterious Russian soldier, whose concern with serfs and land improvements becomes sidetracked by a trip to Afghanistan where he will share Christmas dinner with Burnes.And back to the British army for domestic difficulties, social wrangling, desert hunting games and inept diplomacy. Eventually the British reach their goal and settle outside the gates of Kabul to enjoy their victory, blind to the end. The cultural misunderstandings, born of ignorance as well as arrogance, are sympathetically developed, and suggest chilling echoes for the present day.Hensher's writing is rich and unhurried. He envelops the reader in the feel of a place - it's smells and weather, architecture, clothing and people. Though the characters are many they are well developed. Almost all remain enigmas to some extent, but that is entirely intentional. The narrative draws the reader deep into the subtle

the henscher empire

ok this is a masterpiece. It is the best book i have read the past three years. Henscher is a master of language an iconoclast, a major story teller. This will certainly win the Booker prize. If I can add this he is also extremely beautiful.