Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: people who enjoy magical realism
Book 8 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge
Back-cover summary:
Late in the summer of 1877, a flock of purple-and-white hoopoes suddenly appears over the town of Constanta on the Black Sea, and Eleonora Cohen is ushered into the world by a mysterious pair of Tartar midwives who arrive just minutes before her birth. "They had read the signs, they said: a sea of horses, a conference of birds, the North Star in alignment with the moon. It was a prophecy that their last king had given on his deathwatch." But joy is mixed with tragedy, for Eleonora's mother dies soon after the birth.
Raised by her doting father, Yakob, a carpet merchant, and her stern, resentful stepmother, Ruxandra, Eleonora spends her early years daydreaming and doing housework—until the moment she teaches herself to read, and her father recognizes that she is an extraordinarily gifted child, a prodigy.
When Yakob sets off by boat for Stamboul on business, eight-year-old Eleonora, unable to bear the separation, stows away in one of his trunks. On the shores of the Bosporus, in the house of her father's business partner, Moncef Bey, a new life awaits. Books, backgammon, beautiful dresses and shoes, markets swarming with color and life—the imperial capital overflows with elegance, and mystery. For in the narrow streets of Stamboul—a city at the crossroads of the world—intrigue and gossip are currency, and people are not always what they seem. Eleonora's tutor, an American minister and educator, may be a spy. The kindly though elusive Moncef Bey has a past history of secret societies and political maneuvering. And what is to be made of the eccentric, charming Sultan Abdulhamid II himself, beleaguered by friend and foe alike as his unwieldy, multiethnic empire crumbles?
My review:
My opinion goes with the majority on this novel. I wanted to love the novel, but I only ended up liking it. Michael David Lukas is an excellent writer, and he sets a mystical mood with his beautiful descriptions of the city of Stamboul and little touches of magic that fit into the world perfectly. The pacing is pretty slow, but it felt right to me, and the characters were interesting enough.
Many people complained that “nothing happens,” which I agree with. This wouldn’t have been so bad in another book, but with this one, it seemed like something should happen. The advertised description of the novel is “An elegantly crafted, utterly enchanting debut novel set in a mystical, exotic world, in which a gifted young girl charms a sultan and changes the course of an empire's history.” So there’s this incredible little girl in an amazing city dealing with powerful people. The plot should be epic. But there is absolutely nothing epic about it. In fact, as I saw that I was getting near the end of the book, I was puzzled because this was the point where it seemed like a big adventure should be starting. There could have been another 400 pages of story, and I probably would have liked that more than the ending the book got instead.
same. i agree.