Leyla: The Black Tulip (Girls of Many Lands) - Softcover

Croutier, Alev Lytle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1584857498 ISBN 13: 9781584857495

Publisher: Amer Girl, 2003

Synopsis

While trying to help her financially destitute family, twelve-year-old Leyla ends up on a slave ship bound for Istanbul, then in the beautiful Topkapi Palace, where she discovers that life in the sheltered world of the palace harem follows its own rigid rules and rhythms and offers her unexpected opportunities during Turkey's brief Tulip Period of the 1720s. Simultaneous. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

From Booklist:

Gr. 6-8. In her adult title Harem: The World behind the Veil (1989), Croutier explored the Grand Harem in Istanbul's Tokapi Palace, and she returns to this evocative setting in her first novel for young people. To support her impoverished family, 12-year-old Leyla sells herself to Ottoman marriage brokers passing through her native Caucasus Mountains, but she quickly learns that she has been purchased to be a slave, not a bride. At auction, lucky coincidences land her in the Grand Harem of the Padishah, where she becomes a skilled gardener and artist--talents that lead to rare opportunities and friendships. Leyla's first-person voice evokes the physical beauty of life in "the Golden Cage" with engaging detail, but like Leyla, readers will find themselves confused by the more "adult" aspects of harem life (such as the eunuchs) that are left unexplained. Many of the plot twists are also far-fetched. Yet, the opulent setting, gripping survival story, and the chaste romance with a handsome, benevolent prince have the power to draw in an audience. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Amer Girl
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1584857498
• ISBN 13: 9781584857495
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 198
• Illustrator: Sano Kazuhiko