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Bright Sun
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I don't read a lot of fiction—I'd
rather read history and travel books—but
I must say I was grabbed and
held (captured
and imprisoned?) by Jenny
White's The
Abyssinian Proof.
Her first novel, The
Sultan's Seal,
introduced Kamil Pasha, Magistrate
for Beyoglu, orchid collector,
aesthete and eligible bachelor
who probes the mysteries of the
day, and with them the heart—and
guts—of
the city.
The Abyssinian Proof follows Kamil
Pasha through the
streets, waterways, tunnels and
secret passages of Ottoman Istanbul in
1887 as he seeks to solve an ever-compounding
mystery: the disappearance of an ancient
Byzantine reliquary which
may just hold a secret of worldwide
importance.
In a sense, this is a history
and travel book, one of beautiful,
evocative writing about Byzantine Constantinople,
Ottoman Istanbul, of pashas and princes,
emperors, harems, soldiers and...detectives.
Besides all the poetically-painted
historical landscapes and colorful
characters, Ms White weaves a fine
web of mystery that draws you into
the back streets of Istanbul and even
beneath them (you'll see what I mean) into
the subterranean city of the Byzantines
that still exists.
"Abyssinian?" Are
there Ethiopians in
Istanbul? Perhaps there were, some
of them powerful, all of them with
secrets, some of which you'll learn.
Only some.
Jews, and Greeks, Armenians, and
Americans, Maltese and more: The
Abyssinian Proof takes
place when Istanbul/Constantinople was
among the world's most cosmopolitan
cities, the bridge between Europe and
Asia, east and west, linked to Paris by
the Orient
Express but
a world away from the City of Light.
Call it the City of Shadows.
Jenny White knows
the city, the country, the people and
their history, having lived here, learned
Turkish, and done years of research
as a social anthropologist.
Going to Turkey? Just (reluctantly)
returned? Read The Abyssinian
Proof to extend the
excitement of your journey, and to
learn things about Istanbul that you
never imagined.
The Abyssinian Proof,
by Jenny
White
New York & London: W W Norton
& Company, 2008
Hardbound: ISBN 978-0-393-06205-2,
397 pages, US$23.95
Paperback: ISBN: 978-0-393-33372-5, $13.95
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Above, the
book. Left, the author.
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