The Stone Woman - Islam Quintet III

Each year, when the weather in istanbul becomes unbearable, the family of iskender pasha, a retired ottoman notable, retires to its summer palace overlooking the sea of marmara it is 1899 and the last great empire is in serious trouble a former tutor poses a question which the family has been refusing to confront for almost a century: your ottoman empire is like a drunken prostitute, neither knowing nor caring who will take her next do i exaggerate, memed the history of iskender pasha s family mirrors the growing degeneration of the empire they have served for the last five hundred years this passionate story of masters and servants, school-teachers and painters, is marked by jealousies, vendettas and the decay of the empire, a new generation which is deeply hostile to the half-truths and myths of the golden days