Seraglio

by Janet Wallach

Transporting readers to the menacing yet majestic world of eighteenth-century Turkey, biographer and Middle East expert Janet Wallach brilliantly re-imagines the life of Aimee Dubucq, cousin of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385490461
• ISBN13: 9780385490467
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese
• Length: 316 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Sultry, Salacious, Sordid, Seraglio

These are the things that comes to mind when we think of a seraglio, but it's nothing compared to the rich decadence, the luxury, the subtle sensuality of Wallach's story, which takes place inside the forbidding walls of the celebrated Topkapi Palace in the heart of Istanbul, the capital of the Turkish Empire. Wallach's little book transports us to the forbidden world of a Turkish harem, where in spite its alluring splendor, it's also a dangerous place ridden with secret intrigues, betrayals, and deadly secrets. The story is told by Tulip, the eunuch slave who becomes Nakshidil's best friend and confidant. Nakshidil journey from a noble girl born in Martinique (when she was Aimee), captured by pirates in the Atlantic, sold as a slave in Algiers, and given as a present to the Sultan himself, where she becomes a concubine and ending her life as the mother of the future sultan of Turkey is truly a remarkable. Giving the nature of this novel and its surroundings, Wallach resists the temptation of making this story too graphic or too vulgar or otherwise obscene. The descriptions of the Topkapi palace are described with fantastic details, but the story spins around Nashkidil and her immediate friends and enemies. In spite of her amazing story, for some reason, I tend to like Tulip better than Aimee/Nashkidil, whose life have had some amazing turns too. Father Chrysostomos is not the same Father Chrysostomos of Smyrna, the unfortunate metropolitan of the Orthodox Church who was brutally assassinated by a Turkish mob in 1922. An interesting book indeed, better than I had anticipated. I hope someone makes a move based on this story. 5 "decadent" stars

One to keep in my library for a long time!

I absolutely loved this book. Being fascinated by Mozarts opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio," I wanted to learn more about the harem. So I found this book and couldn't put it down once I got it! I think it is very cleverly written, with Tuplip (her eunich) narrating the story. I thought Wallach did an excellent job with writing about Aimee. The Seraglio life is depicted very well, and I felt as though I was taken back in time. Her mentions of Mozart's opera from time to time was a cool touch and well done (and also very appropriate in many ways). I found this to be a fascinating and interesting read, and I am now reading it again for the second time.

Thoroughly Entertaining Story Of The Seraglio

I very much enjoyed this book and unlike previous reviewers I did care about the characters. The story centers around a very young french girl who is kidnapped by pirates and given to the Sultan on the Ottoman empire. Aimee is renamed Nakshidil, forced to become a muslim and to have sex with an aged and decrepit sultan. Aimee is befriended by a palace eunuch named Tulip and as we learn about Aimee's future in the Seraglio (harem) we learn about Tulip's past. This is an engrossing tale of two misfits whose friendship sustains and nutures them through the good times and bad.

exotic, enticing

Must read! history comes to life: lush, sensuous, exotic, enticing