China, 1760.
Set in China\'s Forbidden City in the 18th century, where the women of the court vie for the Emperor\'s attention and every Concubine must fight for her position.. " Melissa Addey has given us a new take on the cherished but controversial legend of \'the Fragrant Concubine, \' one that weaves together the many conflicting versions of the story and plausibly embraces how romance might have blossomed between the brilliant Manchu monarch and his Fragrant Muslim consort." - Professor James Millward, author of A Uyghur Muslim in Qianlong\'s Court: The Meanings of the Fragrant Concubine If you enjoyed Lisa See\'s Peony in Love, Anchee Min\'s The Last Empress and Arthur Golden\'s Memoirs of a Geisha then The Fragrant Concubine will be a new favourite.
Melissa Addey meticulously evokes a strange, beautiful and harsh society." - Emma Darwin, award-winning author of The Mathematics of Love and A Secret Alchemy. "A passionate story, richly imagined in the spaces of real history.
And when Hidligh finally meets the Emperor, she finds herself falling in love...
The Empress is jealous of her new rival.
Iparhan is watching from the shadows, waiting to exact her revenge on the Emperor.
Every word she utters may expose her as an imposter.
But when Hidligh arrives in the Forbidden City, she enters a frightening new world.
In return she will act as Iparhan\'s spy.
Iparhan offers her a deal: Hidligh will become the Emperor\'s concubine, living a life of luxury.
Meanwhile in the market of Kashgar a girl named Hidligh is kidnapped by Iparhan, a woman scarred by the Emperor\'s conquest of her homeland and bent on vengeance.
The Emperor conquers Altishahr, a Muslim country to the west of his empire and summons a local woman from his new dominion to come to the Forbidden City as his concubine.
China, 1760
