Zubayda

Zubayda is my up-coming novel is set in the early years of the Abbasid Empire in Baghdad, a city so new it does not even have its own ghosts. The Abbasids took power through bloodshed, by over-throwing their fellow Muslims. As the empire grows the caliphs begin an extraordinary effort to collect all of the intellectual work of the past in a magnificent library. They will establish the world’s first university and recruit scholars from around the world culminating with the great “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad.

Each chapter is named for a woman of the royal court, beginning with Empress Arwa in chapter one, who took her husband, one of the most powerful rulers in the world, to court, suing him for breach of contract for breaking their wedding vows. She won. 

In chapter two, we meet Empress Rayta who chose to remove her sons from the line of succession rather than risk losing them in a struggle for power. She meets her husband’s new concubine, Khayzuran and mentors her as Khayzuran becomes the most powerful woman in the Islamic world. She used her influence and wealth to free her enslaved siblings and bring them to live in the palace in Baghdad. 

Thus begins the next chapters about Khayzuran and her sister Salsal who is the mother of Empress Zubayda—who left a legacy of practical solutions to improve the lives of millions, who built roads with wells and canals providing water for Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca that is still known today as “Darb Zubayda.”

The novel continues with more historical narratives of women whose remarkable achievements are too often overlooked, especially the story of Zubayda, the Empress of one of the most influential empires in history who tried to stop the cycle of violence between brothers as she raised the next generation of rulers. Just like Sheherazad, Zubayda saved countless lives through her bravery and brilliance.