VALIDE, a Novel of the Harem

Recreated from historical facts, this novel tells the story of a young French-American girl sold into the harem of Abdulhamid, who becomes Valide, Empress of the Ottoman Empire

When a sultan of the Ottoman Empire died, even the horses in his funeral procession (aided by pepper placed under their lids) wept. Alive, he had access to an eighth of the world's riches, a harem of nearly 400 women and his murder-minded heirs, all of whom were kept under virtual house arrest pending his demise. This is the world that Chase-Riboud, the prize-winning author of Sally Hemmings, painstakingly evokes. Her book is moored to an irresistible historic footnote; that in 1741, a French-American girl of 14, captured by Algerian pirates at sea, was forcibly placed in the sultan's Istanbul harem where she later bore him a son whose own accession to the throne made her an empress. So long as it adheres to this story, Valide is consistently interesting. The scenes of life in Topkapi Palace and a bewildered girl's perceptions of it, more than make up for the author's superficial characterization. A greater and ultimately debilitating fault lies with Chase-Riboud's tendency to stray too far afield: readers suddenly find themselves in France with Napoleon, at a gaming table in Russia or on the high seas with John Paul Jones. Because of this, the narrative, though often engrossing, falls short of its exceptional promise.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A valide is a sultan's mother who administers the sultan's harem of several hundred women. Based on historical facts, this is the story of a young girl from Martinique, captured by pirates in the late 1700s, who eventually becomes a favorite of the Ottoman sultan, bears the son who succeeds him, and becomes Valide. There are detailed descriptions here of various methods of making eunuchs, the elaborate preparations of young virgins to sexually serve the sultan, the debauchery of the sultan's female relatives who must be sterilized so they can never bear a royal rival, and the precise and often varied sexual predilections of a large number of characters, including Catherine the Great . Deadly harem intrigues are juxtaposed with imperial ones in this mildly diverting historical romance. Chase-Riboud is the author of the controversial novel Sally Hemings . Patricia Y. Morton, State Lib. of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.