
Kaikeyi
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Soneela Nankani
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By:
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Vaishnavi Patel
About this listen
“With a graceful, measured elegance” (The New York Times), this lyrical novel reimagines the life of the infamous queen from the ancient epic the Ramayana, giving voice to an extraordinary woman determined to leave her mark in a world where gods and men dictate the shape of things to come.
I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.
So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on legends of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.
Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.
But as the evil from her childhood tales threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.
PRAISE FOR KAIKEYI
"A powerful, feminist retelling of the epic...Patel resets the balance of power, creating an unforgettable heroine who understands that it isn’t necessarily kings or gods who change history." –The Washington Post
"Easily earns its place on shelves alongside Madeline Miller’s Circe." –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Utterly captivating from start to finish." ―Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch’s Heart
"Brave, compassionate and powerful." ―Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne
"A lyrical and evocative retelling, full of power and grace." ―Ava Reid, author of The Wolf and the Woodsman
"Compulsively readable and infinitely compassionate." ―Roshani Chokshi, author of The Gilded Wolves
"A thought-provoking, nuanced new look at one of humanity’s most foundational stories." —Shannon Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB PICK • "MYTHIC RETELLING AT ITS BEST." (R. F. Kuang, author of Babel)
©2022 Vaishnavi Patel (P)2022 RedhookListeners also enjoyed...
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Listen to the sample first!
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Critic reviews
"A powerful examination of a woman maligned by myth and men. Patel’s imagination takes a hammer to the image of a stonehearted villainess and reveals the woman within, whose choices sparked immortal legends. Compulsively readable and infinitely compassionate, this is the story I’ve been yearning for all my life." (Roshani Chokshi, New York Times best-selling author of the Aru Shah and Gilded Wolves series)
"Patel’s mesmerizing debut shines a brilliant light on the vilified queen from the Ramayana…. Readers familiar with the source text will be wowed by Patel’s reimagining, while those new to the story will be won over by its powerful, multilayered heroine and epic scope. This easily earns its place on shelves alongside Madeline Miller’s Circe." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“The novel is compelling and rich, drawing on the source material while furnishing its characters with new complexity and motivations. Fans of Madeline Miller's Circe will fall hard for this story about a woman determined to do what’s right for her kingdom and its women, walking the fine line between rebellion and convention.” (Booklist, starred review)
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Story
In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters. But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.
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A tale as old as time…but filled with hope
- By R. Sharma on 05-15-25
By: Nadia Hashimi
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The Doors of Eden
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she'd lost Mal, but now she's miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal's reappearance hasn't gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn't the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power - and they may or may not be human.
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Boring
- By Kindle Customer on 08-23-20
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LaRose
- A Novel
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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North Dakota, late summer, 1999. Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence - but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he's hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. When he staggers closer, he realizes he has killed his neighbor's five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich.
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Grief and Love
- By Mel on 07-09-16
By: Louise Erdrich
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The Gift of Rain
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin, Luke Thompson
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, The Gift of Rain tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. In 1939, 16-year-old Philip Hutton - the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families - feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities.
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Emotive and complex.
- By Jeff Lacy on 11-21-18
By: Tan Twan Eng
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A Woman of Endurance
- A Novel
- By: Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
- Narrated by: Tracey Leigh
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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A Woman of Endurance, set in nineteenth-century Puerto Rican plantation society, follows Pola, a deeply spiritual African woman who is captured and later sold for the purpose of breeding future slaves. The resulting babies are taken from her as soon as they are born. Pola loses the faith that has guided her and becomes embittered and defensive. The dehumanizing violence of her life almost destroys her. But this is not a novel of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity.
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The difference in this book.
- By all our stories on 06-08-22
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Fawkes
- By: Nadine Brandes
- Narrated by: Oliver J. Hembrough
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In 17th-century London, two forces rule the people: the color powers and the Stone Plague. Brown masks can manipulate wood. Black masks control the night. And red mask...well, red is the color of blood. Thomas Fawkes needs a gray mask so he can remove the stone that has invaded his body and will ultimately take his life. But when he fails his color test, his only hope is to track down his father, the infamous Guy Fawkes, and demand his color mask.
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Really loved this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 07-17-18
By: Nadine Brandes
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The Royal We
- By: Heather Cocks, Jessica Morgan
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An American girl finds her prince in this "fun and dishy" (People) royal romance inspired by Prince William and Kate Middleton. American Bex Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister Lacey was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it's adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall - and Bex who finds herself accidentally in love with the heir to the British throne. Nick is wonderful, but he comes with unimaginable baggage.
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I deserve a medal for getting to the endless end.
- By Anne on 09-30-17
By: Heather Cocks, and others
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The Daily Show (the AudioBook)
- An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests
- By: Jon Stewart - foreword, Chris Smith
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Jay Snyder, Kevin T. Collins, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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This oral history takes the listener behind the curtain for all the show's highlights, from its origins as Comedy Central's underdog late-night program hosted by Craig Kilborn to Jon Stewart's long reign to Trevor Noah's succession, rising from a scrappy jester in the 24-hour political news cycle to become part of the beating heart of politics - a trusted source for not only comedy but also commentary, with a reputation for calling bullshit and an ability to effect real change in the world.
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Not narrated by the interviewees
- By Diana on 01-16-17
By: Jon Stewart - foreword, and others
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Between Dragons and Their Wrath
- By: Devin Madson
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani, Lauren Fortgang, Ron Butler
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Tesha, a glassblower’s apprentice with a talent for poisonwork, becomes a false tribute bride as part of a desperate political plot. In the Reacher’s court, she’s perfectly placed to sabotage him, but her heart has other plans. Naili is laundress to an eccentric alchemist, a job that has left her with strange new abilities that are slowly consuming her—and attracting the notice of the city’s underground rulers. With time running out, she’ll have to gain power by any means just to survive, let alone change the world.
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grabbed my attention right away and kept it
- By Amy on 09-27-24
By: Devin Madson
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Son of the Storm
- By: Suyi Davies Okungbowa
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of the most exciting new storytellers in epic fantasy, Son of the Storm is a sweeping tale of violent conquest and forgotten magic set in a world inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.
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A story with so much potential
- By Steph on 08-09-21
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Monkey Beach
- A Novel
- By: Eden Robinson
- Narrated by: Noelle Kayser
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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As she races along Canada's Douglas Channel in her speedboat - heading toward the place where her younger brother Jimmy, presumed drowned, was last seen - 20-year-old Lisamarie Hill recalls her younger days. A volatile and precocious Native girl growing up in Kitamaat, the Haisla Indian reservation located 500 miles north of Vancouver, Lisa came of age standing with her feet firmly planted in two different worlds.
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Great read/listen
- By Stefany Mathias on 12-27-18
By: Eden Robinson
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The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Nathan Harris
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Equal parts beauty and terror, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.
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Masterful storytelling and an exceptional audio performance
- By Pamela on 06-18-21
By: Nathan Harris
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The Once and Future Witches
- By: Alix E. Harrow
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters - James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna - join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement.
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Almost. Not quite there.
- By LovelyD on 11-29-20
By: Alix E. Harrow
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The Jasmine Throne
- By: Tasha Suri
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Exiled by her despotic brother, princess Malini spends her days dreaming of vengeance while imprisoned in the Hirana: an ancient cliffside temple that was once the revered source of the magical deathless waters but is now little more than a decaying ruin. The secrets of the Hirana call to Priya. But in order to keep the truth of her past safely hidden, she works as a servant in the loathed regent’s household, biting her tongue and cleaning Malini’s chambers.
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I had to stop
- By Evanlee on 07-11-21
By: Tasha Suri
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The Phoenix King
- By: Aparna Verma
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani, Deepti Gupta, Vikas Adam, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The Ravani kingdom was born of a prophecy, carved from unforgiving desert sands and ruled by the Ravence bloodline: those with the power to command the Eternal Fire. Elena Aadya is the heir to the throne—and the only Ravence who cannot wield her family’s legendary magic. As her coronation approaches, she will do whatever it takes to prove herself a worthy successor to her revered father. But she doesn’t anticipate the arrival of Yassen Knight, the notorious assassin who now claims fealty to the throne.
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fire
- By Zachary benham on 09-19-24
By: Aparna Verma
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Scion of Ikshvaku
- Ram Chandra Series, Book 1
- By: Amish
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Ayodhya is weakened by divisions. A terrible war has taken its toll. The damage runs deep. The demon King of Lanka, Raavan, does not impose his rule on the defeated. He instead imposes his trade. Money is sucked out of the empire. The Sapt Sindhu people descend into poverty, despondency and corruption. They cry for a leader to lead them out of the morass. Little do they appreciate that the leader is among them. One whom they know....
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Annoying narration
- By maneesha Seth on 06-18-23
By: Amish
Beautiful
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Absolutely fantastically!
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David and Absalom
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so incredibly beautiful
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Perspective is Reality
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Love.
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What I did not enjoy was the narrator - she sound that she was on the verge of bawling her eyes out. Either that emotion or a gruff masculine voice when voicing a male character. There was no in-between.
Rama was portrayed as a misogynistic power-hungry male a$$h*l€ - a rude awakening for his followers; how can a near divine man be this way?
Vaishnavi Patel bring to light a flawed woman and her equally flawed human sons. Good job!!
Very good book, but…
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So moving
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overall very compelling audiobook though. I was always excited to learn what came next.
a new backstory for an ancient tale
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perspective changing
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