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Even against the vivid backdrop of the sixteenth-century Ottoman Empire, Esther Handali stood out. Widow of an Istanbul rabbi and refugee from the Spanish Inquisition, she established herself during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent as an intermediary between the women of the sultan's seraglio and the world outside the harem to which they were confined. Her connection to the Imperial Palace ended under Suleiman's great-grandson--when a careless indiscretion led to her shocking downfall. Solmaz Kamuran was born in 1954 in Istanbul, where she lives today. She is amongst Turkey's most popular authors, and has written six novels.