Muslim family and social life in old Delhi, with its crowded markets and narrow lanes have never been as vividly and energetically portrayed as in this novel, the first bestseller in Urdu. Mirat ul-‘Arus sold over 100,000 copies with a few years of its release in 1869. This translation done in 1903 by an admiring Englishman, is a classic, now back in print after a century.