The Man Who Created the Middle East: A Story of Empire, Conflict and the Sykes-Picot Agreement
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At the age of only 36, Sir Mark Sykes was signatory to the Sykes-Picot agreement, one of the most...
The Silence of Scheherazade
10.0
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Set in the ancient city of Smyrna, this powerful novel follows the intertwining fates of four...
Historical fiction Turkish Literary fiction War Cultural Colonialisation
Turkey: A Modern History
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This revised edition builds upon and updates its twin themes of Turkey's continuing incorporation...
ClareR (5789 KP) rated The Silence of Scheherazade in Books
Nov 29, 2022
We follow four families as their lives are changed forever when the Ottoman Empire is torn apart, and the city of Smyrna is at the front and centre of the trouble and violence.
This novel covers about 17 years from 1905, and follows four families from very different backgrounds: Levantine, Greek, Turkish and Armenian.
Scheherazade is born in September 1905, and never knows her mother as she is abandoned. An Indian spy (sent from the British) is who will tie them all together.
My thoughts:
I love an epic, sprawling story, and following the lives of four families certainly gives a lot of scope for that.
It was fascinating to learn about the different cultures of the four families, and of course Smyrna was a main character in itself.
It’s a book to be immersed in, with the sights and smells beautifully described.
Just my kind of book!
The A to Z of Middle Eastern Intelligence
Muhammad Suwaed and Ephraim Kahana
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The A to Z of Middle East Intelligence addresses intelligence issues in the region from ancient...
The Strange Library
Haruki Murakami and Ted Goossen
10.0
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Fully illustrated and beautifully designed, this is a unique and wonderfully creepy tale that is...
BookwormMama14 (18 KP) rated Behemoth (Leviathan, #2) in Books
Jan 2, 2019
Pashas: Traders and Travellers in the Islamic World
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Long before they came as occupiers, the British were drawn to the Middle East by the fabled riches...
Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty
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From furious reactions to the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to the suppression of women, news from...
A World without Islam
Book
What if Islam never existed? To some, it's a comforting thought: no clash of civilizations, no holy...