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Loading... The Janissary Tree: A Novel (Investigator Yashim, 1) (original 2006; edition 2006)by Jason Goodwin (Author)
Work InformationThe Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (2006)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. http://runningbowline.com/2009/08/04/the-janissary-tree-by-jason-goodwin/ ( ) This is the book that launched my love affair with this author's writing. The perfect juxtaposition between historical fiction (set in the still prosperous days of the Turkish empire, in the 1820s), mystery, a prose that is equal parts plot and exotic settings, and, just for good measure, great Turkish recipes for when Yashim the investigator gets stuck and resorts to cooking to help him sort out his thoughts. And I knew at the end of this book that I still had 4 other ones to delight in reading. I'm afraid I couldn't stick with this one. I had trouble following the characters and visualizing the place and time. Heath and I were listening together, but when I had to go out of town I just dropped it and he finished. I didn't go back to pick up where we left off. Just not interested enough to try to figure out where things ended. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesYashim Togalu (1) Belongs to Publisher SeriesMirmanda (46) Stile libero [Einaudi] (Big) Is contained inAwards
The Janissary Tree, the first book in a new series, is set in a most extraordinary world and features a most extraordinary sleuth. It is 1836. Europe is modernizing, and the Ottoman Empire must follow suit. But just before the sultan announces sweeping changes, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind them? Only one intelligence agent can be trusted to find out: Yashim Togalu, a man both brilliant and near-invisible in this world. You see, Yashim is a eunuch. He leads us into the palace's luxurious seraglios and Istanbul's teeming streets, and leans on the wisdom of a dyspeptic Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and a Creole-born queen mother. He finds sweet salvation in the arms of another man's wife (this is not your everyday eunuch). And he introduces us to the Janissaries. For 400 years earlier the sultan had them crushed. Are the Janissaries staging a brutal comeback? No library descriptions found. |
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