Why a Booktrail?
1830s: An investigative eunuch shows you around Istanbul. A book trail guide unlike any other…
1830s: An investigative eunuch shows you around Istanbul. A book trail guide unlike any other…
A mystery set in the crumbling Ottoman empire of the 1830s with a eunuch investigator, intrigues among harem concubines, Janissaries, and much much more.
The Janissary Tree is the first in the series, and the year is 1836. Europe is changing,modernizing which causes no end of problems amongst the elite. However the sultan of the Ottoman Empire feels he has no choice but to follow suit. But just as he’s poised to announce sweeping political change, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind the killings?
This is a world like no other – this is the palace at the centre of the Ottoman empire and the forbidden district of Topkapi
The colour and rich texture of the background of this time and period is quite enticing and it was hard for us to tell what is and isn’t real. Maybe you would see a difference if you know anything about this period but we enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of it all and the fact it could have been.
At the core of the novel is the disappearance of four young officers in the Sultan’s westernized Army. The atmosphere of secrecy and diplomacy – not to mention the forbidden talk of the Harem is a enticing mix.
The Janissaries were the Sultan’s right hand men who helped in the development and expansion of the empire. read this and think of the current situation in the Middle East.