Rich in history and lightly touched in magic, G. Willow Wilson’s return to fiction is a triumph for fans of magical realism.
Beginning in Granada in the final days of the Reconquista, the story follows Fatima, a concubine born in the Alhambra, a palace she’s never left. Servant to the sultan’s mother, and the Sultan himself, Fatima’s only friend is Hassan, the royal mapmaker whose maps can open secret passages or trace lands he’s never seen. When emissaries of Ferdinand and Isabella arrive before the Sultan, they bring with them the Inquisition’s threat to Hassan’s safety and Fatima’s way of life. Fatima must then fight to define for herself the meaning of love, friendship, and freedom, and how far she’ll go to preserve them. Layered into the story is the intersectionality of religions and cultures of the 15th century Iberian peninsula, as well as touches of Persian literature and Islamic mythology, all of which combine to create a compelling miniature epic and an epic heroine in Fatima.
Beginning in Granada in the final days of the Reconquista, the story follows Fatima, a concubine born in the Alhambra, a palace she’s never left. Servant to the sultan’s mother, and the Sultan himself, Fatima’s only friend is Hassan, the royal mapmaker whose maps can open secret passages or trace lands he’s never seen. When emissaries of Ferdinand and Isabella arrive before the Sultan, they bring with them the Inquisition’s threat to Hassan’s safety and Fatima’s way of life. Fatima must then fight to define for herself the meaning of love, friendship, and freedom, and how far she’ll go to preserve them. Layered into the story is the intersectionality of religions and cultures of the 15th century Iberian peninsula, as well as touches of Persian literature and Islamic mythology, all of which combine to create a compelling miniature epic and an epic heroine in Fatima.