Fabulous Fiction Firsts #243

Fri, 02/18/2011 - 4:42pm by muffy

Michael David Lukas's debut novel The Oracle of Stamboul beautifully evokes life in 19th-century Turkey.

Raised by a doting father after her mother's death at childbirth, Eleonora Cohen is recognized as a prodigy (aka The Oracle) at an early age. Unable to endure her stepmother's iron-fisted discipline, Eleonora stows away on the ship that bears her father to Stamboul (modern day Istanbul) on business. When tragedy strikes, Eleonora's extraordinary genius comes to the attention of Sultan Abdul Amid II who is impressed with her shrewd political evaluations, and seeks her advice that might have changed the course of history.

"The exotic sights and sounds of nineteenth-century Turkey spring vividly to life, ... In addition to conducting a delightfully quirky magical mystery tour via an appealingly quirky heroine, Lukas also paints a bold portrait of an empire precariously poised on the chasm between an old and a new world."

Readers intrigued with historic Istanbul might enjoy Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red (audio), translated from the Turkish by Erdağ Göknar. Set in In sixteenth-century Istanbul, a furor erupts when the sultan hires a group of artists to illuminate a great book. An intellectual mystery that will appeal to fans of Umberto Eco, Iain Pears, and Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Also check out The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin, first in a mystery series, and the Edgar Award Winner for a First Novel. In 1836, Europe is modernizing and the Ottoman Empire must follow suit. But just before the sultan announces sweeping changes, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court.

Katie Hickman's The Aviary Gate is a "lush, ancient tale of treacherous secrets, forbidden love, and murder in an Ottoman palace where a British sea captain’s daughter is held captive in the sultan’s harem in 16th-century Constantinople.

* = Starred review