A much-needed addition to popular history writing, this biography vividly brings the fourth and least-known of the Great Mughals to life. Plagued by the reputation of being a weak prince who was addicted to alcohol and not held in high esteem by his own father, Jahangir was nonetheless an ambitious ruler– facets that Parvati Sharma draws out with a novelistic flair. She treats the man at the heart of the book as a literary character, possessed of a rich interiority, with flaws and desires that are very much human. It might not be a definitive academic account, but it succeeds in creating an enjoyable story while faithfully recreating a fascinating life and time.