Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada, May 10, 2022

Format: ebook

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts comes a breathtaking reimagining of ancient India through the extraordinary life of Yasodhara, the woman who married the Buddha.

In this sweeping tale, at once epic and intimate, Shyam Selvadurai introduces us to Siddhartha Gautama–who will later become “the enlightened one,” or the Buddha–an unusually bright and politically astute young man settling into his upper-caste life as a newlywed to Yasodhara, a woman of great intelligence and spirit. Mansions of the Moon traces the couple’s early love and life together, and then the anguished turmoil that descends upon them both as Siddhartha’s spiritual calling takes over and the marriage partnership slowly, inexorably crumbles. Eventually, Yasodhara is forced to ask what kind of life a woman can lead in ancient India if her husband abandons her–even a well-born woman such as herself. And is there a path she, too, might take towards enlightenment?

Award-winning writer Shyam Selvadurai examines these questions with empathy and insight, creating a vivid portrait of a fascinating time and place, the intricate web of power, family and relationships that surround a singular marriage, and the remarkable woman who until now has remained a little-understood shadow in the historical record. Mansions of the Moon is an immersive, lively and thrilling feat of literary imagination.

My Review:

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for the copy of this book.
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Read if you like: ancient history, Circe
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A beautiful reimagining of the story of the Buddha, but through the eyes of his wife, Yasodhara. The story looks at the couple’s early relationship and the impact on Yasodhara when her husband leaves her to become the Enlightened One. She struggles to raise their son while living with his family, in a world where not having a husband but not being a widow gives her no status at all.
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I loved the setting of ancient India and to read about what life would have been like for different people. We got to read about the warring groups of people, as well as the structure of society. I liked the creativity used by the author to reimagine the historical characters’ lives, and while I felt like some of the parts of the plot were a bit long, I enjoyed the story.
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CW: pregnancy, childbirth, abandonment, war, violence, death of a parent, sexism, misogyny.