Book of a Thousand Days

Content Ratings

Mild Romance

Dashti's feelings for a kind khan's son who visits the tower are tenderly developed; the romance is sweet, culturally specific, and central to the story's resolution.

Mild Themes

The novel explores endurance under unjust confinement, the courage of a servant girl protecting someone more vulnerable than herself, and the long patience required to outlast cruelty.

Mild Violence

The cruel Lord Khasar's menace, the danger of the tower, and dark magic create sustained threat; violence is present in a fairy tale register.

Synopsis

Told through the diary of Dashti—a lady's maid who is locked in a tower for seven years alongside her mistress, a princess who refused to marry a cruel lord—this novel inspired by a Grimm fairy tale and set in a Mongolian-influenced world follows their survival and eventual escape. Beautifully written in diary form, with a distinctive voice and a rich sense of culture.