Alex Rutherford is the collective pen name of two writers, Diana Preston and her husband Michael Preston. "Rutherford" is known for the six-book historical fiction series ''

Empire of the Moghul ''Empire of the Moghul'' is a series of historical fiction novels written by Alex Rutherford (the pen name for Diana and Michael Preston). The series consists of six volumes covering the rise and height of the Moghul Empire in medieval India. ...

''. The Prestons studied at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, reading history and English respectively. Their research into the building of the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

led them to explore the early history of the dynasty which built it – the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the ...

. Over the years they have also retraced the steps of the Mughals from the

Ferghana Valley The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

– home to the first Moghul emperor, the boy-king Babur – to Iran and to the blue domes and minarets of

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zi ...

in Uzbekistan, across the red deserts to the

Oxus River The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

, over the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Prov ...

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Ac ...

and Afghanistan and down through the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversi ...

to the plains of northern India. ''Empire of the Moghul'' consists of six books which is about the epic rise and fall of one of the world’s most powerful, opulent, and glamorous dynasties across 200 years. Until the series they had done only serious non-fiction, and it was their first attempt at historical fiction. They decided to create a new persona to make a distinction between their earlier writing and this new series. "Rutherford" came from the Nobel Laureate

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...

, and Alex was chosen as a name that could be male or female.

Books by Diana and Michael Preston under the pseudonym "Alex Rutherford"

* ''Empire of the Moghul: Raiders from the North'' * ''Empire of the Moghul: Brothers at War'' * ''Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World'' * ''Empire of the Moghul: The Tainted Throne'' * ''Empire of the Moghul: The Serpent's Tooth''Books , Alex Rutherford , Reviews , Time Out Mumbai
/ref> * ''Empire of the Moghul: Traitors in the Shadows'' * * ''A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier'' * ''Taj Mahal: Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire'' * ''A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time: The Story of the Taj Mahal'' * ''Fortune's Soldier'' * ''Fortune's Heir''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherford, Alex Living people Pseudonymous writers British historical novelists Year of birth missing (living people) Writing duos