In 1540, twelve-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan’s menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the sultan’s beautiful daughter, Princess Mihrimah. A palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire’s chief architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with Chota’s help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history. Yet even as they build Sinan’s triumphant masterpieces—the incredible Suleymaniye and Selimiye mosques—dangerous undercurrents begin to emerge, with jealousy erupting among Sinan’s four apprentices. A memorable story of artistic freedom, creativity, and the clash between science and fundamentalism, Shafak’s intricate novel brims with vibrant characters, intriguing adventure, and the lavish backdrop of the Ottoman court, where love and loyalty are no match for raw power.

    They parachuted into paradise with eyes firmly shut and hoped for the best. When the blindfolds were removed what they saw wasn’t pretty. They found themselves peering over the rim of a Byzantine bear pit. Bitching and pretension ruled the emigrey roost. The white-washed ghettoes were populated by neo-colonial bar-room bores who hated the country they’d come from and hated the country they’d come to and were obsessed with property prices, pork products and street dogs. Expat life was village life where your business was everyone’s business. For Liam, it was the barren badlands of the lost and lonely. For Jack it was the last stand of the charmless Raj - 'Tenko' without the guards, the guns and the barbed wire. It took them a while to find their feet and separate the wheat from the chavs but, determined to stay the course, eventually they found diamonds in the rough and roses among the weeds. Welcome to Part Two of the mini-series which includes previously unpublished material together with Jack’s personal recommendations of the must-sees that Turkey has to offer to visitors and residents alike.

    The Idle Years comprises two semi-autobiographical novels (My Father's House and The Idle Years) that form part of a series; these two are set during the 1920s and 1930s, a period of major social change in the new Turkish Republic. The unnamed narrator grows up in an affluent household in Adana with his brother, sisters, mother and formidable father, a well-known political agitator. When the father falls foul of the authorities the family migrates to Beirut, where the narrator becomes something of a rebel while attempting to support his now impoverished family. He returns alone to Adana as a disaffected teenager, but lack of money and prospects prompts him and his best friend to set off for Istanbul in an ill-fated attempt to seek fame and fortune. Soon, however, he is forced to return home as a humiliated and alienated youth struggling on the bottom rung of society. Things only begin to look up when he meets a young factory girl ..." In his writings Orhan Kemal examines the struggles that ordinary people face in order to survive in the harsh conditions that can result from social and economic upheaval. A master at portraying the relationship between the individual and society, he left an immortal literary legacy - not only to Turkey but to the world.