Paperback Edition Coming Soon!!

I just wanted to share a very, very special moment with you…

During lockdown I have been working hard on getting my book, ‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’, ready for publishing in paperback. I had not appreciated how much time and work was involved in taking a finished manuscript from its format as a word document on a laptop, to a printed, bound paperback book available for sale across all the Amazon markets!!

A Special Moment…

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, a friendly delivery driver arrived at my home and left a small brown box, clearly addressed to me, at our gates. I had been expecting five proof copies of the paperback edition of my book to arrive, and guessed that this is what probably lay inside. It is very difficult to find a quiet corner in our home, (especially during lockdown with my five children racing around!!), but that is exactly what I did. I carried the box into the garden and sat in the shade beneath a large oak tree. At first I just stared at the label. My heart was pounding and I felt very emotional!! After a minute or two, I pulled open the packaging with trembling hands, and this is the sight that greeted my eyes….

My heart began to beat even faster and tears stung my eyes. I do not know how long I sat motionless, just staring into the box, but eventually I picked up the top copy, flicked through the pages and breathed in the distinctive smell of the paper. Then I slowly re-read the dedication I had written over a year ago:

In memory of all who once lived as prisoners in the Çırağan Palace, especially His Imperial Majesty Sultan Murad V. You will never be forgotten ghosts and shadows – instead your memory lives on in the hearts and souls of your descendants…

I smiled and looked up to the heavens, feeling calmer and warm inside. Then I wiped away the tears that, until then, I had not noticed had rolled down my cheeks…

Ready to Publish...

That was yesterday. Today I checked through the book – looking for mistakes and seeing if there were any tweaks that needed to be done before making the book available for purchase on Amazon. Fortunately, I only spotted one error!! Tomorrow I will upload the corrected and print-ready document to Amazon, and the book will finally be ready to publish in paperback!!

However, I would ask anyone who is considering buying the book to please bear with me for just two weeks more!! I have decided to make the book available to purchase on 7th July 2020 – in honour of my beloved father’s 80th Birthday…. After all, it was he who encouraged me to publish the story of Sultan Murad V and his family, so it seems only appropriate that this be the right time to release the book.

I trust you will indulge me and forgive the slight delay, and I thank you for your patience and your support….