The Sultan's Seal, by Jenny White; W.W. Norton & Co., 2007Reviewed by Colleen Johnson
Author Jenny White's novel The Sultan's Seal is a real find! When the body of a young Englishwoman washes up in Istanbul wearing a pendant inscribed with the seal of the deposed sultan, Kamil Pasha, a magistrate in the new secular courts, sets out to solve the crime. Given a starred review by Booklist, this novel is historical drama mixed with the traditional murder mystery, brilliantly capturing the political and social upheavals of the waning Ottoman Empire. It bristles with cogent observations about the human condition, has an unpredictable plot, and gives the reader something other than a standard "pat" ending. Named a Booklist Top Ten First Novel.
East of the Sun: A Novel by British author Julia Gregson is an international period drama which tells the story of young, unmarried English women who travel to India in 1928 for job, marriage, and family. It is a story that offers light romance and lots of character development. Also written by Gregson is the novel Band of Angels about a young woman who joins Florence Nightingale's nursing corp during the Crimean War. In this book, the author includes gritty details, and the battlefield scenes are not for the fainthearted.
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