NEW hardcover

The Oracle of Stamboul: A Novel Lukas, Michael David

THE ORACLE OF STAMBOUL is a magical historical novel about an astonishing eightyearold girl in the last days of the Ottoman EmpireIt is 1877, on the shores of the Black Sea, and the omens for the newborn Eleonora Cohen are hardly promising Not only does her mother die in childbirth, but her village is being attacked by the Tsars Royal Cavalry However, despite this bad beginning, a sour stepmother and a traumatic journey in the hold of a ship, young Eleonora grows into a remarkably clever but very engaging child And when a heartbreaking tragedy leaves her marooned in Istanbul, where spies and boardedup harems and sudden death are as much a part of life as delicious spices, Paris fashions and rosewater, it is Eleonoras extraordinary courage and character which lead her straight to the Sultans court, and to her salvation