Harshali’s retelling of the story of Anarkali is extremely well written and nuanced. The book explores the fictional tale of Anarkali based on real-life events. The book, however, is not just the story of Anarkali the courtesan, but also of her other facets of a pawn and a queen. The book starts from the moment when Anarkali was being immured into the wall and the story then travels back into time and we meet Nadira, before she became Anarkali.