Amah and the Silk-Winged Pigeons

By: Jocelyn Cullity

Narrated by: Rishma Malik

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Amah and the Silk-Winged Pigeons draws on the lost histories of the women descended from African slaves who resisted English rule during the 1857 uprising in Lucknow, India. The book is about the event that triggered Queen Victoria’s reign in India for almost a century, and illuminates new and important female, Muslim perspectives on what has been called the first war of Indian independence. Lucknow in 1856 is the most opulent city in India. If the English take it over, the royal family and centuries of rich, cosmopolitan culture will disappear. Amah, personal bodyguard to the King, wants to make sure this doesn’t happen. Ex-Queen, Hazrat Mahal, has the money to fortify against the English.

Both women are daughters of African slaves who have grown in wealth and power thanks to the reign of the Indian royal family in Lucknow. The English are a small number, compared to the native population in the city, but Lucknow has never known war. When the women decide to take on the English colonists who declare rule, what will be the ultimate price of the women’s loyalty to the royal family and to the place they’ve grown to love?

©2017 Jocelyn Cullity (P)2020 Inanna Publications

Critic reviews

“Beautifully written and deeply researched, this debut novel will hold and intrigue its readers. Warmly recommended.” (Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, author of Engaging Scoundrels: True Tales of Old Lucknow)

“This historical novel is amazingly detailed and is doubtlessly enhanced through the author’s sharing of her personal heritage.” (US Review of Books)

“Amah and the Silk-Winged Pigeons, based on real people and events, is a novel prodigiously researched, in which the research is so thoroughly composted into character that we lose ourselves in the rich settings and these imagined lives. A wonderful read.” (Janet Burroway, author of Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft)

“Cullity’s setting is redolent of Indian life, its tastes and smells, its colors and textures. She handles the themes of empire and cultural conflict with huge tact and clarity. Her storytelling is first-rate.” (Jay Parini, author of The Last Station)