This is a fabulous book about an obscure subject: women in Ancient Persia. I can only admire all the research that Maria Brosius did for her doctoral thesis. Then to take that material and turn it into a reader friendly historical treatise, while treating these women with dignity and respect. She makes them come to life and made my job much easier when I wrote my historical novel, Esther's Song, about the biblical Queen Esther, King Xerxes, and the royal harem.