Triumph in Paradise

About the Book

TRIUMPH IN PARADISE is based on a true story recorded on clay tablets from the archives of ancient Mesopotamia . . . the story of the love that a Babylonian princess had for a Ninevite priest who became king of Assyria—a story never told in novel form. It began at the slave dock on the pier of Nippur Harbor during the Babylonian New Year Festival at the Sacred City—2218 b.c. Who is this raven-haired girl? She takes the baby with the cocoa skin and wavy brown hair from the black Kushite woman, cradling it in her arms and begins singing a solf lullaby: “Mama’s little baby, My little Lamassu (angel) . . .” Later she is seen running along the path on the Great Wall of the King’s Palace. She hesitates. She reaches down to touch the Ninevite on the black stallion parading along the sacred roadway. The visages of the gods glare at her from the rooftops. She senses the cruel hand of Fate focusing her mind away from all earthly pleasures to the holy calling of service to the gods, but she feels a surge of joy in her breast. Nothing in her past had fathomed the depth of her emotions until this moment. She has no idea what this moment will bring. PRINCESS YUN-EVE is the 16-year-old twin daughter of Queen Shu-abi and Naram-sin, king of the Akkadian Empire. This morning 40,000 people gathered along the Heavenly Road of Enlil to watch the military rites. The Ninevite priest named Ali is blood-kin to the king and a Kishite prince named Agga who believes that he is the legal heir to the Agade throne. Yun-eve is the favorite daughter of the king who, in a drunken stupor, crowns her Queen of Agade during the Grand Banquet to the gods. Jealousy rages in the House of Agade. The king’s son, Crown Prince Shar-kali-shari, and other royalty and the priests plot to kill her. Ali leaves on a military mission to Gasur. She learns that the Assyrians hold him captive in Assur. He escapes the executioner’s blade because of his likeness to the Assyrian King Hag-Anu’s son, Ilu-Mer, who, with his father, is murdered in a palace conspiracy mix-up. The high priest of Assur mistakenly crowns the Ninevite captive as Ilu-Mer-Ashur, King of Assyria. King Naram-sin is killed at the battle of Apishal in Syria, and Queen Shu-abi is murdered in the palace. Prince Shar-kali-shari assumes the crown in name only because Yun-eve is the legal ruler. He makes a military and marriage contract with the Awan King Kutik-In-Shushinak who will betroth Yun-eve, and he will take the goddess Narundi of the Temple Nahhunte at Awan to be his bride. She plans to kill Shar-kali-shari. The Awan king plans to kill Yun-eve and inherit the throne of Agade. Ali hears of this marriage contract and sends spies to assassinate the Awan king. Narundi is murdered in the royal nuptial bed at Nippur. Five years have passed since Ali’s capture and crowning as king of Assyria. Yun-eve keeps vigil, watching the dusty roads and imagines the hoof-beats are those coming for her. Louder! Louder! Hope keeps her from pledging to a life if piety and virginity in the priestess’ cloister. Ali receives word that Yun-eve is dead, and he goes to Nippur . . . “ YOU HAVE CHOREOGRAPHED A POWERFUL, INTRICALLY WOVEN STORY HERE . . . HIGHLY INFORMATIVE. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF PASSION, AND IT COMES FROM YOUR HEART. YOU WRITE IN A MOST DISTINCTIVE FASHION.”—Scott Michel, novelist and playwright “ ANN SHARRA TELLS THIS PERSONAL EPIC IN AN INTENSELY AUDACIOUS AND BRILLIANT MANNER. THRILLING, BREATHTAKING, AND UNFLINCHINGLY ACCURATE.”—Zedi Al-Werdi, Ph.D., University of Baghdad Central Library

About the Author

ANN SHARRA EARNED GRADUATE degrees from Indiana University and the Citadel and studied Middle East history in London and Paris. She traveled extensively in ancient Iraq, visiting ruins of the great cities of antiquity—Ur, Nippur, Babylon, Nineveh, and Assur. She was recipient of the 1987 International Literary Awards for Superior Creative Excellence. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina. (More about the author inside.)