The Sultan's Seal: A Novel - Hardcover

White, Jenny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393060993 ISBN 13: 9780393060997

Publisher: W. W. Norton, 2006

Synopsis

A stunningly lyrical debut novel about faith and desire, set within a gripping tale of murder in nineteenth-century Istanbul.

Rich in sensuous detail, this first novel brilliantly captures the political and social upheavals of the waning Ottoman Empire. The naked body of a young Englishwoman washes up in Istanbul wearing a pendant inscribed with the seal of the deposed sultan. The death resembles the murder by strangulation of another English governess, a crime that was never solved. Kamil Pasha, a magistrate in the new secular courts, sets out to find the killer, but his dispassionate belief in science and modernity is shaken by betrayal and widening danger. In a lush, mystical voice, a young Muslim woman, Jaanan, recounts her own relationships with one of the dead women and her suspected killer. Were these political murders involving the palace or crimes of personal passion? An absorbing tale that transports the reader to nineteenth-century Turkey, this novel is also a lyrical meditation on the contradictory desires of the human soul.

About this title

About the Author:

Jenny White is an anthropologist and the author of numerous nonfiction works on Turkish society and politics. The Sultan's Seal is her first novel. She lives in Massachusetts.

From AudioFile:

THE SULTAN'S SEAL is a Byzantine (literally) tale of two murders in nineteenth-century Istanbul, linked by a mysterious pendant bearing the eponymous seal and associated with the victims, both young Englishwomen working as governesses in royal harems. From Nadia May we learn to pronounce it "hareem," and enjoy a great many other exotic pleasures. Her reading is witty and acute as always, but I had some trouble distinguishing by voice alone between two young female narrators, one the English ambassador's daughter, the other a highborn young woman of the city who knows more about the murders than she is telling. Nor is this the most persuasive whodunit, but its setting is fascinating, and it's a lot of fun. B.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0393060993
• ISBN 13: 9780393060997
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384