Part 2, Chapters 8-9 Summary

In chapter eight, "Allah Smiles," Jahanara seeks to atone for her mistakes by pouring her love and attention into the building of the mausoleum. During the Muslim observance of Ramadan, the Month of Blessing, she is able to pray and heal in peace. Her husband, still smarting from her insults, beats her regularly, but never as badly as that one night. She bears the pain philosophically, wanting only to continue her work on the mausoleum.

She is able to get away for a few days to Delhi with Isa. They must travel there by the river to pick up a load of white marble for the immense platform of the structure they are building. She and Isa spend time together outside the constraints of spying eyes, but they still do not act on their feelings for each other.

As...