Discover The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas
Michael David Lukas’ first novel is a magical historical title about an astonishing eight-year-old girl in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.
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It is 1877, on the shores of the Black Sea, and the omens for the newborn Eleonora Cohen are hardly promising. Not only does her mother die in childbirth, but her village is being attacked by the Tsar’s Royal Cavalry. However, despite this bad beginning, a sour stepmother and a traumatic journey in the hold of a ship, young Eleonora grows into a remarkably clever but very engaging child. And when a heartbreaking tragedy leaves her marooned in Istanbul, where spies and boarded-up harems and sudden death are as much a part of life as delicious spices, Paris fashions and rosewater, it is Eleonora’s extraordinary courage and character which lead her straight to the Sultan’s court, and to her salvation.
Read an independent review on Bookgeeks
"This is a dreamy novel, a novel that gently allows itself to form layer upon layer, to present choices that feel as much like the hand of fate as the narrowing of possibilities, and to show Eleonora sitting at the centre, quiet and strong as the lives of others whirl around her."
