The Jewel of Medina

Jones, Sherry. The jewel of medina, New York : Beaufort Books, 2008.

This story is a historical fiction novel, set against the backdrop of  7th century Arabia and is about one of the Prophet Mohammed’s favourite wives A’isha bint Abu Bakr.  Much controversy has surrounded this book when it was dumped by Random House publishers prior to its scheduled publication in August 2008.  Finally the rights were picked up by Beaufort Books in the U.S.A.  Jones writes the novel from A’isha’s point of view, the story is written in the first person and covers Aisha’s childhood until the death of Mohammed when she was 18 years old.  The book lacks substance and becomes a fluffy historical romance novel instead of the story of a girl raised in the 7th century and the birth of Islam.