This book is the story of two women, alternating chapters between Celia Lamprey in 1599 Constantinople and Elizabeth Staveley, whose story takes place in present day Oxford and Istanbul. Elizabeth discovers a document about Celia's abduction and takes off for Istanbul to find out more about Celia. I liked the historical part of Celia's story. My favorite part was the author's detailed look at life in a harem. The author provided a lot of interesting information about customs, dress, social hierarchy and such. Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was a mystery, love story and a historical fiction novel all rolled into one book. ( )

This novel is in two segments. The main part of the story actually revolves around an English girl, Cecila, who is sold as a slave to a Sultan in Constantinople in 1599 after her father's trading ship is captured and he is killed. There is actually some interesting historical facts in this part of the novel as the author talks about the fate of young men who become Eunuchs in the Sultan's palace and the whole lifestyle and ways of the harem of that era. The story creates a backdrop of intrique and mystery surrounding the harem and the struggle for power within. You are in suspense reading about who could be responsible for the murders that occur over time. Cecila, longs for her English lover who is a merchant and Secretary to the English Ambassador. He believes that Cecila may have perished with her father. Then, weaved into the novel is present day Elizabeth who is a graduate student working on her thesis and is researching the life of Celia. I think Hickman could have left this whole section out as it was the least interesting of the book and was a repetition of the series of novels being written that copy the theme of the DaVinci Code. This theme of finding the answer to something that happened long ago or finding an ancient manuscript or jewel is getting old. To make matters worse, Elizabeth is stuck in an emotionally abusive relationship that she can't seem to shake off until - of course, she finds prince charming in Istanbul. (pretty trite). I have to say that the book did keep my interest but, except for the historical parts and the setting, it was not very original and somewhat disappointing. ( )

Having been a recent visitor to Istanbul's Topkapi Palace and its harem, I particularly enjoyed reading Hickman's story about Celia, a young Englishwoman taken captive in the sultan's harem in the late sixteenth century.

Hickman deftly weaves together a story that takes us inside the cloistered and scheming world of the sultan's women, the intrigue of the European envoys vying for lucrative trade deals with Constantinople, and the modern world of Oxford and Istanbul as lived in by a 20-something female PhD student who is trying to unravel the mystery of whether Celia ever made it out of the harem and back into the arms of her fiancee, a wealthy English merchant sent to Istanbul by Queen Elizabeth I.

This book is a mix of mystery, historical fiction, and romance (both historical and modern) and was great fun to read. ( )

Katie Hicks novel was a change of pace for me. I adore Historical Fiction but tend to read predominately Victorian era novels. I enjoyed the exotic 16th century Turkish setting of Hick's novel. She uses a the convention of juxtaposing a contemporary graduate student (Elizabeth Stavely) doing research against that of an imagined historical 'subject.' In this caes, the subject under investigation is a young English woman, Celia Lamprey, presumed drowned at sea but actually alive and well and living as a slave in the Ottoman royal harem. Her finance, a well to do English merchant/sea captain/scholar named Paul Pindar discovers her alive in the harem and seeks her rescue. The story is actually told predominately from Celia's point of view and is rich in courtly/harem detail. I enjoyed this peek into an a world that was previously unknown to me. I did not love the 'modern day' sections that place Celia's story within a 'to be discovered' mode. I found the contemporary graduate student rather vapid and was little interested in her failed romance. I found her distracting and thought Celia's story was strong enough to stand on its own.

One other issue with this book is that the characters and language in the novel are numerous and a foreign enough to become confusing. Hicks has a short cast of characters and a glossary in the front of the book and I did find I had to continuously return to it. There are enough names/ concepts that are new that it was a necessary evil. I don't like having to flip back and forth, but I got confused enough to have to paper clip the section for referral. Don't let this keep you from reading it, if the topic is of interest. It's definitely well written and an enjoyable read.

Despite my criticisms, I actually enjoyed this peek into harem life replete with scheming concubines, palace eunuchs, and astrology, and will happily pass this title on to other readers. ( )

Well, I tried to like this book. I really tried. But I found it full of cliches and characters about whom, for the most part, I just didn't care. Elizabeth, the grad student, was particularly whiney, pathetic, and unlikeable (not to mention that the "formula" of a grad student making an important discovery has been done to death since Possession). Most of the negatives have been listed below. There's just too much going on, too many stories, most of them not very interesting and most of them left hanging. The novel is awash with Eastern stereotypes (the sly eunuch, the jealous favored wife, the aging concubine, etc.). Once you get a picture of what goes on in the harem (mostly the women bathing, plucking, and perfuming in preparation for a possible evening with the sultan), you don't really need to hear it over and over again. ( )