I was inspired most by histories I read about sultanas who ruled empires from behind and beyond their golden cages. Not too long ago, Reza Shah, the late Mohammed Reza Shah’s father, had a harem on a smaller scale, and I was intrigued by the intricate circumstances of these women’s lives. To write a straightforward history, I would have had to curtail my creativity, an impossible task. Alev Lytle Croutier’s book, Harem: The World Behind the Veil, supplied captivating facts that influenced my choice.