The Oracle of Stamboul

Lukas, Michael David

ISBN 10: 0062012096 / ISBN 13: 9780062012098

Published by HarperCollins Publishers, 2011

About this Item

HarperCollins Publishers, 2011. Stated first edition, first printing with full number line, signed and inscribed by author at the Title page; decorative endpapers, deckled fore-edge; dustjacket faintly rubbed/bumped, corners/spine ends very lightly rubbed/bumped, bottom spine end lightly rubbed; cover very faintly rubbed/bumped, faintly soiled, corners/edges/spine ends faintly rubbed/bumped, spine ends very lightly bumped; edges faintly rubbed/bumped, very lightly sunned; interior very faintly age-toned throughout, signed and inscribed by author at the Title page; binding tight; dustjacket, cover, edges and interior intact and clean, except where noted; due to the size/weight of this item, additional shipping charges may apply for International or Expedited orders. . Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Seller Inventory # 609061

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Oracle of Stamboul
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062012096
• ISBN 13: 9780062012098
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • New Additions
  • Signed Books
  • Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

Raised by a carpet merchant father and resentful stepmother after a prophesied birth, Eleonora is recognized as a prodigy before stowing away to Stamboul, where she charms the eccentric Sultan Abdul Amid II and changes the course of history. A first novel. (This title is being re-listed in Forecast). 100,000 first printing.

From the Back Cover

An elegantly crafted, utterly enchanting debut novel set in a mystical, exotic world, in which a gifted young girl charms a sultan and changes the course of an empire's history

Late in the summer of 1877, a flock of purple-and-white hoopoes suddenly appears over the town of Constanta on the Black Sea, and Eleonora Cohen is ushered into the world by a mysterious pair of Tartar midwives who arrive just minutes before her birth. "They had read the signs, they said: a sea of horses, a conference of birds, the North Star in alignment with the moon. It was a prophecy that their last king had given on his deathwatch." But joy is mixed with tragedy, for Eleonora's mother dies soon after the birth.

Raised by her doting father, Yakob, a carpet merchant, and her stern, resentful stepmother, Ruxandra, Eleonora spends her early years daydreaming and doing housework—until the moment she teaches herself to read, and her father recognizes that she is an extraordinarily gifted child, a prodigy.

When Yakob sets off by boat for Stamboul on business, eight-year-old Eleonora, unable to bear the separation, stows away in one of his trunks. On the shores of the Bosporus, in the house of her father's business partner, Moncef Bey, a new life awaits. Books, backgammon, beautiful dresses and shoes, markets swarming with color and life—the imperial capital overflows with elegance, and mystery. For in the narrow streets of Stamboul—a city at the crossroads of the world—intrigue and gossip are currency, and people are not always what they seem. Eleonora's tutor, an American minister and educator, may be a spy. The kindly though elusive Moncef Bey has a past history of secret societies and political maneuvering. And what is to be made of the eccentric, charming Sultan Abdulhamid II himself, beleaguered by friend and foe alike as his unwieldy, multiethnic empire crumbles?

The Oracle of Stamboul is a marvelously evocative, magical historical novel that will transport readers to another time and place—romantic, exotic, yet remarkably similar to our own.