The second instalment opens with the attempted suicide of Hikmet Bey, the son of the sultan’s personal physician. The reason for his extreme gesture is, to forget the extremely beautiful and proud Mehpare Hanim, his wife and the cause of all his suffering. While Hikmet recovers in a hospital in Thessaloniki, slowly regaining his strength and will to live, radical changes are afoot in the Ottoman capital. The power of the sultan is eroding, a rebellion is brewing, and violence erupts on the streets of Istanbul. It is the eve of one of the key events that will lead to the collapse of the Empire: the countercoup of 1909. With striking clarity and imaginative power, Altan evokes the traumas and upheavals of Ottoman history, showing how – over 100 years later – the events and wounds of that time still resonate in the tensions and contradictions of today’s Turkey.

Author Ahmet Altan Published by Europa Editions ISBN 9781787702479 EAN 9781787702479 Bic Code Cover Paperback