lame suspense, rich Istanbul background

books:

	• The Sultan's Seal: A Novel Jenny White W. W. Norton, 2006 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

a fictional primer to Turkish elites

This novel has its flavor of a good thriller but it offers more about the mentalities of late Ottoman Istanbulites. To make it more specific, although it provides a rich scene of everyday lives, it focuses on the elite lives of Istanbul. It is not partisan at all, it demonstrates the complex nature of relations and signs of the emerging leaders of the new Republic.

Drew me in

I searched for mysteries set in Istanbul because I just visited the city. This one fit my profile for a good book - detective, murder mystery, exotic setting which I could learn more about.

This book started out slow for me. I thought of "ditching" it several times. I'm glad I didn't. When I got to about page 100, it started to draw me in. By page 150 I could hardly put it down. Having just finished it, I'm interested in reading Jenny White's second book.

I think I didn't like the book at first because it isn't a typical American "fast read" detective novel. Ms. White's writing is more elegant, complex, and subtle. I came to find it lovely, once I understand her approach.

for more information click here

lame suspense, rich Istanbul background

I will be very brief. As a suspense, mystery or crime novel, Sultan's Seal is not very satisfying. However, Western and even some Turkish readers like myself might praise the author for reconstructing Istanbul in 1886 with good amount of historical and cultural detail.

The writing is at times poetic which fits well with the exotic atmosphere created. Perhaps it is safe to say Istanbul itself from a foreigner's point of view is the main character of the novel.

Having said this, I believe using the love for Istanbul as an excuse to write a historical crime novel set in Istanbul is somewhat disappointing.

If you can read it without caring too much for the plot, which is not very expertly cosntructed, you will enjoy it. I could not read it that way as I know Istanbul by heart.

for more information click here

Transcends mystery genre

So many mysteries are just variations on the same formula; it's a real pleasure to read one that is as complex and original as this one. Excellent character development, beautiful descriptive writing, historically sound.

Good work, Jenny!

I enjoyed this first novel tremendously; scenery, characters, plot, ebb and flow, climax and denouement, all handled with a master's touch. Thanks for letting me help a bit, dear Jenny! On to The Abyssinian Proof!!

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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.

for more information click here

hot