Beneath A Marble Sky by John Shors

Whenever I finish reading an exceptional book, as was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, the book that comes next on my reading agenda usually suffers tremendously by comparison. Beneath A Marble Sky is historical fiction based on the building of the Taj Mahal: the Emperor who had it built in memory of his wife, his three children, Dara, who was his heir, Jahanara, the heroine of the story, and Amangjeb, who did become the next Emperor, plus the architect/Builder Prasad Isa, who becomes Jahanara's lover and the father of her daughter. There was certainly lots of historical detail in this book, lots of it interesting, but it was all a little too long, and I became bored.  It wasn't even poorly written, but I did begin to think that maybe historical fiction, like this one at least, is just a pumped-up romance novel: I felt the same about the book Marrying Mozart. I was also disappointed because I've been looking for this book for some time: as usual, I was attracted by the title and the subject, and ended up buying it at Borders when I finally found it this winter. I hate being disappointed by a book I've bought!