I'm not sure how， but I ended up getting the book about a week before it released。 It's incredible。 Sometimes historical fiction novels end up being too reverent of their characters， particularly when it's a religious figure。 I like that both Siddhartha and Yasodhara feel like fully realized people with their own ambitions and shortcomings。 It's beautifully written （par for the course with Selvadurai's novels） and I found myself getting lost in the rhythm of it。 Once I could wrap my head around I'm not sure how， but I ended up getting the book about a week before it released。 It's incredible。 Sometimes historical fiction novels end up being too reverent of their characters， particularly when it's a religious figure。 I like that both Siddhartha and Yasodhara feel like fully realized people with their own ambitions and shortcomings。 It's beautifully written （par for the course with Selvadurai's novels） and I found myself getting lost in the rhythm of it。 Once I could wrap my head around the different social structures and using the glossary in the back for some of the terms， I got wrapped up in the novel。 I felt for Yasodhara and the feeling of being trapped within our own social circumstances that multiple characters within the novel feel at different points。 It's rare to have a novel that can keep up the tension when we know how it's going to end， but finding out how they get to that end is the interesting part。 While there's some strangeness to the pacing （there's a war that basically feels like it's over in a few pages）， I love the descriptions so much that it's easy to overlook。 One of the biggest problems that I had with other historical fiction about the wives of religious figures is I'd never buy the romance。 They didn't feel like real people。 While you're not going to find the equivalent of bodice ripping in this book， the romance between Siddartha and Yasodhara is sweet and almost coy at the beginning。 You can feel how pleased they are to find a match for their stations and a partner that they can rely on。 When tempers fray， you can feel it too。 4。5/5 stars。 I highly recommend it！ Especially if you have loved previous books by Shyam Selvadurai。For more historical fiction reviews and fun lists， you can find me at TrulyBooked。com 。。。more