The Mulberry Empire [Hardcover]

Philip Hensher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2002

In the spring of 1839, some fifty thousand British forces entered Afghanistan with “the full pomp of Empire,” possessed of the certainty that they would replace the Amir with someone less hostile toward their ally, the King of the Punjab. Three years later, a single British horseman rode out of the Afghan mountains into India—the sole survivor of the original vast contingent. The Mulberry Empire is the magnificently told story of this conflict—of the events that surrounded it, of the politics and people on both sides, of the passions and pride that led to the destruction of the British and the triumph of the Afghans.

At the center: Alexander Burnes—a British explorer who ventures into the fabled city of Kabul, befriends the all-powerful Amir, and returns to England a hero. The bearer of amazing stories, he is unwitting emissary to and from both nations, neither of which can see how his impressions will change their worlds. And there is Bella Garraway, whose upper-class, predictable life will be wholly undone—leaving her with nothing, and then everything—when her path crosses Burnes’s. Around them, a superbly wrought cast of characters: English, Russian, Indian, Afghan, Persian—a shifting universe of men and women, the powerful and the pawns, caught in a vortex of history.

Spanning a decade and moving between London and Calcutta, St. Petersburg and Kabul, The Mulberry Empire is a brilliant synthesis of fact and imagination, as rich in the details of history and place as it is in the complexities and drama of human nature. It is an unexpectedly timely, masterful novel of fidelity and dreams, belief and chance, an epic of empires built and lost, and built again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hensher's ambitious new novel (his first to be published in the United States) concerns a lesser-known chapter of Afghan history the British occupation of Kabul in 1839. In the mid-1830s, Alexander Burnes, a British officer, became the London sensation du jour after publishing a book on his adventures in the East, including his encounters with the Afghan prince, Amir Dost Mohammed Khan. His book roused British interest in Afghanistan, a possible new colony and market. Fearing that the Russians might take Kabul first, the British marched into the city, ousted the Amir, and replaced him with one favored by their ally, the Punjabi king. Though the British troops succeeded and remained encamped outside Kabul for three years, the Afghanis at last attacked and sent 16,000 British troops retreating through the valley of their death: they were ambushed, and only one survived. Adopting a part timeless, part ironic storytelling voice, Hensher follows several characters in this vast tapestry: Burnes, of course, and the Amir, but also Bella Garraway, the woman the Amir courts during his year in London; Charles Masson, a British deserter who finds refuge in Kabul; and Vitkevich, a Wilde-like Russian emissary, among many others. Mastering the light touch necessary for a complex history, Hensher moves easily from realm to realm, though he best captures the vanities of society whether of Britain's "upper few thousand" or Moscow's salons. The shifting focus weakens the drama, but what Hensher loses in tension he makes up for in information. Thus the reader learns Persian has six words for mulberry a holy fruit of Islam and Pushto, uncountable. For the post-modern, post-empire reader, ironies abound, and gently as Hensher tells it, the tale is cautionary: any nation should think twice before unseating a foreign prince.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In 1839, about 50,000 British troops entered Afghanistan to replace the amir with someone more palatable to the Empire. In this fictionalized account, we meet Burnes, a British explorer who ventures into the capital city of Kabul and befriends the soon-to-be-ousted Amir Dost Mohammed Khan. Through no planning of his own, Burnes becomes an emissary for the British government and attempts to forge a relationship with Afghanistan. The novel switches between Afghanistan and England, and in addition to Burnes, the reader meets many other characters, among them Bella, the woman who falls for Burnes but won't follow him on his exotic journeys; Charles Masson, a deserter of the English forces who one day finds himself in Kabul and who later plots the downfall of Burnes; and Vitkevich, Burnes's Russian counterpart, who is attempting to double-cross the amir. Hensher, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award for Kitchen Venom, combines numerous characters, plot lines, locales, and time shifts to tell an incredibly complex saga of rulers, empires, politics, imperialism, and revolt. The past events of which he writes mirror the present and maybe the future, giving the book a timeless quality. This well-executed work will appeal to serious fans of historical fiction. Recommended.
Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; Uncorrected Proof edition (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375414886
• ISBN-13: 978-0375414886
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,333,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Expansion of the British Empire, March 19, 2004

By 

S. Calhoun "rhymeswithorange" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mulberry Empire: A Novel (Paperback)

Set during the 1830's MULBERRY EMPIRE focuses on the expansion of the British Empire into central Asia. Already holding India as a prized possession, Britain looks beyond the horizon to Afghanistan in hopes of dominating trading and beating the Russians. At the center of the novel is Alexander Burnes, a Scot, who publishes a book about his travel experiences to Kabul that sends literary waves throughout London and beyond and draws attention to the need for expanding the British throne into Afghanistan. Alternating between London and Afghanistan this novel attempts to highlight the historic role of western powers in Asia. Books that fall into the genre of historical fiction are often hit or miss, and MULBERRY EMPIRE falls somewhere in between. Some passages are awe-inspiring while the remainders are downright clunkers. I greatly enjoyed the chapters devoted to London and the character of Charles Masson. Philip Hensher's descriptions of the Season and the upper class bring the characters to life on the page. His metaphors are witty and repeatedly brought a smile to my face. These aspects are the true highlights of this novel. It is unfortunate that the remainder of this book can often be dull and disappointing. Hensher's prose tends to be reminiscent of Victorian-era authors who were often paid by the word and therefore expanded their writing into dreadful details and painful insights. On the cover Hensher is described as a modern-day Dickins and Tolstoy. While the verdict is still out on that claim I have to admit that I was disappointed in THE MULBERRY EMPIRE, and would hesitate recommending it to others.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging, thought provoking historical epic, January 16, 2004

By 

Richard Sawyer (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mulberry Empire: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a highly engaging, well written epic. Hensher has produced an absorbing historical fiction of a point in time that has implications for our own times. His story of imperalism in central Asia during the 19th century is a timely commentary on current events. Hensher engages the reader with a broad cast of characters from diverse cultures, and the story interestingly moves among locales in Afghanistan, India, England, and Russia. While the story seems to ramble just somewhat in a few spots, this actually seems intentional as part of the broad sweep of historical events, cultures and people. While the author concedes that the story is loosely based on historical facts, his skill at describing events and locales, creating believable and interesting characters within believable plots, and attention to detail transports the reader into the overall story. This is truly an excellent, literary historical fiction.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Mulberry Empire, August 1, 2004

By 

M. Cohen (NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mulberry Empire (Hardcover)

An evocative novel of the British Raj, and the disastrous First Afghan War. By using actual participants of the period the author makes the story compelling and factual. The author's description of life in Kabul in the early ninetheen century is most believable.