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Jewel of Medina: A Novel Hardcover – 15 Oct 2008

by Suzanne Corso (Author)
2.5 out of 5 stars 15 customer reviews
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  1. Four Sisters, All Queens
    Sherry Jones
    3.9 out of 5 stars 18
    Paperback
    £11.33 Amazon Prime
  2. (THE JEWEL OF MEDINA) BY Jones, Sherry(Author)Hardcover on (10 , 2008)
    Sherry Jones
    Hardcover
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Beaufort Books (US); 1 edition (15 Oct. 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0825305187
  • ISBN-13: 978-0825305184
  • Product Dimensions: 16.1 x 3.1 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 410,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

The first-person narrative of Aisha, ... a spirited young woman keen to be treated as equal to men. --www.guardian.co.uk

'[Sherry Jones] does something important for the pulse of the Muslim world: She breathes life into the forgotten women and men of Islam's birth. They fly off the page and into your soul as spiritual warriors' --Asra Nomani

Synopsis

Born A'isha bint Abi Bakr in seventh century Arabia, she would become the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, and one of the most revered women in the Muslim faith. Married at the age of nine, "The Jewel of Medina" illuminates the difficult path A'isha confronted, from her youthful dreams of becoming a Bedouin warrior, to her life as the beloved wife and confident of the founder of Islam. Extensively researched and elegantly crafted, "The Jewel of Medina" presents the beauty and harsh realities of life in an age long past, during a time of war, enlightenment, and upheaval. At once a love story, a history lesson, and a coming-of-age tale, "The Jewel of Medina" provides humanizing glimpses into the origins of the Islamic faith, and the nature of love, through the eyes of a truly unforgettable heroine.

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Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsNot deserving of condemnation, but likewise not up to the hype
By P. Jenkins on 15 July 2012
Format: Kindle Edition
The Jewel of Medina had been in my pre-order/save for later list on Amazon for many months, waiting for it to be finally published. The self-censorship chill surrounding this novel after it was unceremoniously pulled by publisher Random House had piqued my interest in what could have made them so jumpy, given that until they received an unfavourable report from one of their pre-publication readers they were keen to spend tons of money to promote it. Then the British publisher was bombed and yet again the book was withdrawn.

Much has been made of the Prophet's paedophilic tendencies in taking a wife aged nine years (she was betrothed to him at age six), but in this fictional account of her marriage to Muhammad, though A'isha is indeed married aged nine, it's not until she is 15 that her marriage is consummated. I've no idea how accurate this narrative is. Sherry Jones, the author, who is not a Muslim, explains in a Q & A at the end of the book that she did take certain liberties with the historical account, but this particular aspect is not mentioned.

Being the first-person story of a child, this is inevitably a self-centred story. A'isha is headstrong and full of her own importance, alternating with bouts of extreme self-doubt, with the result that her fickleness tends to tedium after a while. The shallowness of her vision is reflected in the narrative, though this might be expected in a child's story. It might also explain why we never get any real sense of place; Mecca and Medina are locations of geographical uniqueness, but A'isha, constrained as she is in purdah and subsequently in Muhammad's harem, tells us little of what these places are like.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAnti-review
By A. Reader on 15 Aug. 2008
Format: Hardcover
Because publication of this book was pulled on the grounds of the furore it might create.

Some call it censorship, others cowardice, but the one thing Random House will not do, apparently, is let us Amazon buyers and readers make up our own minds.

Go do something about this, or go back to sleep.
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5.0 out of 5 starsFreedom of Speech Does Include the Freedom to Disagree - That's the Whole Point
By maytrees on 15 Nov. 2008
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I bought this book for the same reason as I bought the first edition of
Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Attempts to murder Rushdie seemed to me to be
an attempt to kill off the right to freedom of speech. Setting
fire to the home/office of the London publisher who decided to publish
the Jewel of Medina is in a similar category. Buying the books
is the best way of preserving the freedom.

Satanic Verses as a work of literature took some reading
and in the end I couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
At first glance The Jewel of Medina seems far more light weight
a novel. Not something which God is likely to be too bothered
by, any more than he is by say "Father Ted" or the "Life of Brian".

I shall try to read it and may be post again but buying the book
is the best response to those who under the guise of religion,
seek to bully, using threats of violence and even death.
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3.0 out of 5 starsSherry Jones Blog Quote
By Z. Tybalt on 17 Aug. 2008
Format: Hardcover
Don't Believe Everything You Read

First thing in the a.m. after publication of Asra Q. Nomani's editorial about "The Jewel of Medina," misinformation abounds. But I can't talk about the publisher's decision not to publish -- not until Random House/Ballantine says so, for reasons I can't disclose ;-(. But I can correct at least one inaccuracy: My book is not a "bodice-ripper," as one blogger (who obviously hadn't read the book) called it. Nor, in my opinion, is it particularly "racy," as Ms. Nomani, who HAS read the book, described it. Denise Spellberg, the UT professor who started all this, called it "soft porn" -- which makes me feel like a literary master, able to write a pornographic novel without sex scenes!

Bloggers are going wild, reading all kinds of things into Ms. Nomani's excellent opinion piece. Some believe the Random House assertion that several people warned of potential terrorist attack. If so, that's news to me. The only one I was told about was Ms. Spellberg.

Ironically, I've been castigated in some of these blogs by writers who haven't read the book and who mis-read the editorial piece. Being called an "Islamopanderer" is the most ironic. All I did was try to portray A'isha, Muhammad's child bride
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4.0 out of 5 starsUnderstandably controversial
By Anne Tyler on 22 Feb. 2010
Format: Hardcover
An absorbing story, the author puts over very well what life was like in 7th century Arabia. I can understand why Muslims found it controversial in the same way that Christians didn't like "The Last Temptation of Christ". However, I feel that if the believer is devout, a fictional account should in no way challenge their faith.
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5.0 out of 5 starsCall Islam peaceful....
By David Smith on 28 Oct. 2008
Call Islam peaceful, or we'll kill you (or firebomb the publisher's house, as the case may be).

These people do not understand irony.
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3.0 out of 5 starsbanned book
By Lynn Waite on 26 Jun. 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I bought this book as I was told some people tried to ban its publication
I cant see why ...
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3.0 out of 5 starsFreedom of speech
By Ken Towl on 21 Nov. 2008
Judging by the response that this book has provoked, it should be at least worth the read. I can't review it; I haven't read it. I look forward to being able to reading it and reviews of it.

Any book that investigates the roots of one of the great religions, if well written, is, surely welcome. Or am I missing something here?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 starsA Novel Based on Fiction?

The problem encountered when non-Muslims try to write about Islam is their lack of knowledge and adequate research; indeed any attempt of Sherry Jones in trying to create a novel... Read more

Published on 22 Oct. 2010 by A.L. Rahim
1.0 out of 5 starsJewel of Madinah

I have read the opening few chapters, despite it being a novel has a lot of historical errors, which might be contrary to the the science of Usul al-Hadith and isnad. Read more

Published on 2 Dec. 2009 by Hamid Mahmood
1.0 out of 5 starsa freedom of speech does not necessarily mean a freedom to insult

I am a sunni muslim and I write this review simply to voice my objection to this novel. I do not wish to proclaim any kind of a threat or voice any anti-western propaganda in any... Read more

Published on 31 Oct. 2008 by Ashfaaq A. Ismail
1.0 out of 5 starsWorst literary piece ever

This book is not worth the read. This book has no substance whatsover let alone calling it a novel. I have read children's books that uplift the imagination and are of good... Read more

Published on 25 Oct. 2008 by M. I. Abdur Rahman
1.0 out of 5 starsLack of knowledge

Based on what knowledge has the author written this book. No one has the right to mock or make up stories of any respected figures of anyones religion. Read more

Published on 19 Oct. 2008 by A. Taher
1.0 out of 5 starsliterary worst fiction

Absolute rubbish.
Should have not bothered, stuck to another career.
This book is racist, islamaphobic. It has no respect for other religions. Read more

Published on 9 Oct. 2008 by M. I. Abdur Rahman
1.0 out of 5 starsA pretty lousy and inaccurate read, not worth the price tag or the...

I found this book to be quite inaccurate and unworthy of its publication.
The controversy surrounding this book is undeserved. Read more

Published on 27 Sept. 2008 by unknown

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