Saturday, July 24, 2010

Books Set in Ottoman Turkey: Constaninople

Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander (2009)

I picked up Tears of Pearl at my local library because I was intrigued by the cover, which showed a skyline of Istanbul and the Hagia Sophia. I didn’t realized when I picked up the book that it is actually the third in a mystery series about Lady Emily Ashton. The fictitious Lady Emily was an adventurous young women living in the late 1800s, who, when she travels, finds herself involved in mysteries. The author makes references to things that happened in the previous three novels, which is a bit distracting.

In Tears of Pearl, Emily and Colin take the Orient Express to Constantinople (as it was called in 1892) for their honeymoon trip. Colin was a close friend of Emily’s first husband, who apparently died under mysterious circumstances in the previous novel in the series. There are hints that Colin may have been involved in the death of the first husband, but they lead no where.

While on the train, they meet Sir Richard, an elderly British diplomat stationed in Constantinople. He had been married to a local woman and tells Emily and Colin the tragic tale of how his wife murdered and his young daughter was abducted over 20 years ago. He had tattooed his daughter’s neck, as was the custom of his late wife’s community. Later, after an event at the Topkapi Palace, one of the women in the sultan’s harem is found murdered.

As luck would have it, the dead woman has a tattoo on her neck and is the long lost daughter of Sir Richard. Since only women (and the court eunuchs) are allowed in the harem, Emily takes charge and is permitted to question the women in the harem. Emily and her husband enter into a contest to see which of them will be able to find the murderer. In the course of their adventure, a few more bodies turn up. Other events seem point to Sir Richard as the villain.

The author provides many details of the harem as it existed near the end of the Ottoman Empire. It was clearly well researched and the author compares and contrasts freedoms and restrictions of British society women and the women of the harem.

Tears of Pearl is an adult version of the Nancy Drew mystery stories that I read as a pre-teen. It is a light-hearted novel without a great deal of suspense. Although I enjoyed the book, I have no interest in reading the previous books in the series.



Read: July 24, 2009

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