Memories of an ottoman princess: novel of a life

Based on facts she could uncover concerning her late mother, Selma, the author has re-created the story of a Turkish princess and granddaughter of Murad V, the last ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The result, reminiscent of a gothic TV tale, portrays the coming of age of the beautiful, young, expatriated princess in Beirut and her subsequent arranged marriage to a handsome rajah in India whom she does not meet before her wedding night. Forced to live a secluded life as an unaccepted stranger in the rajah's palace, the pampered, rebellious princess gains her freedom by fleeing to Paris at the time of the Nazi Occupation. There she gives birth to a daughter. This novel won't win any awards for literary skill, but with its opulent Oriental imagery it allows us to glimpse a distant and romantic world swept by change in a turbulent era.