I thought it would be nice to share some short updates with you of what I am currently working on, what I am researching at the moment, and what I am doing ‘write'(!) now. I will update this page regularly, and hope you find some of the content of interest. Please do contact me to ask questions or to make suggestions – it would be lovely to connect with you.

5th November 2024

Today I started writing my new book! It is the sequel to The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus, covering the turbulent period of Ottoman history from 1906 to 1909.

The working title, The Palace in the Mist, is inspired by the poem Sis (meaning ‘Mist’ or ‘Fog’), written in 1902 by the renowned Ottoman poet Tevfik Fikret. Tevfik Fikret became a close friend of my great-grandfather, Prince Ahmed Nihad Efendi, due to their shared interest in literature, education, and architecture, as well as their similar political views advocating sweeping reform and the restoration of the constitution. His poem Sis also inspired the painting shown here by Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi, which depicts the Bosphorus veiled in mist, obscuring its beauty and hinting at hidden dangers.

Both Tevfik Fikret’s poem and Caliph Abdulmecid II’s painting convey critiques of the Ottoman capital. They use mist as a powerful metaphor to portray Istanbul as a place of corruption and oppression. For these artists, mist symbolised the moral and political haze they saw suffocating the city, concealing its potential and beauty. Through their work, each expressed a longing to “lift the fog” and reveal a brighter, more truthful view of the city and its people, lighting the way towards a constitutional democracy.

My novel unfolds against the backdrop of the Macedonian Struggle and the Young Turk Revolution – a movement determined to lift this “fog” of repression and reveal a new path forward. Through the story, I hope to capture the sense of hope and urgency that fuelled this period, as my characters navigate a world on the brink of transformation, striving to bring clarity, justice, and rejuvenation to the Ottoman Empire.

As I write The Palace in the Mist, I invite you to join me on this journey. What do you know about the Macedonian Struggle, the Young Turk Revolution or life in the Empire at this time? Do you have any family stories passed down from your ancestors that you would like to share? I’m excited to breathe life into this period of history and hope my new book will offer fresh insights and perspectives on these pivotal years.

17th October 2024

Today I had my first ever book signing! And what a very special place to hold it, at The Yunus Emre Institute in London.

A very big and heartfelt thank you to Mehmed Bey and everyone else at the Yunus Emre Institute in London, not only for all the incredible work they do to promote Turkish history, culture and language, but for their warm and generous hospitality. Teşekkür ederim.

I was blown away that the event was sold out and that I also sold out of books! Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to come to my presentation and who bought one of my books. It was wonderful meeting so many lovely people interested in learning more about Ottoman History and who wanted to hear the story of my family. I really enjoyed meeting and chatting to you all, and am deeply touched by how you opened your hearts to me. If you were unable to come, you can watch the presentation here.

Thank you again, tekrar teşekkür ederim, and please do get in touch if you’ve read A Farewell To Imperial Istanbul as I’d love to know what you think of it!

30th September 2024

Feeling so lucky to be back in Bodrum, spending the last days of summer at our home in Yalıkavak.

I always treasure the summer months. For the last 18 years we have spent every summer at our home in Türkiye. It is a time not only to enjoy the warmth of the sun, the tranquility of the Aegean Sea, and of course the delicious Turkish cuisine, but it is precious time spent making memories with my children. Time away from the pressures and rigours of life… But my children are growing up fast, and beginning to fly the nest. This summer was the first one that my eldest son did not join us in Bodrum, as he had his own plans, and I missed him so much.

To every parent reading this, treasure every moment with your children as they open their wings and fly the nest all too quickly…

1st August 2024

On 27th July I launched The Young Ottoman Scholars Society!🌙

This is an initiative I have established to encourage young people to explore their Ottoman heritage and to deepen their understanding of our shared history. The launch date was carefully chosen. My eldest son, Maximilian Ali, wrote and submitted the very first article published by the Society, which can be read here to gain an understanding of the importance of this auspicious date.

The Young Ottoman Scholars Society aims to foster a community of young people eager to learn about our proud history. Every month, I invite young scholars aged 25 and under to submit articles on various aspects of Ottoman history. These articles can cover members of the Ottoman Dynasty, Imperial Palaces, Mosques, monuments, significant historical events, or aspects of Ottoman art, music, literature, or culture. Articles can be written in Turkish, English, or both, and should be between 500-1000 words. Submissions will be reviewed and those selected will be published on my website, allowing for comments and discussions in a safe forum.

Today, the first article submitted by Yusuf, a founding member of The Young Ottoman Scholars Society, was published. He chose to write a piece on the Yıldız Palace following his visit there last week after the Palace’s recent reopening. You can read his article here.

If you are aged 25 years old or younger and are interested in Ottoman History, I would love to hear from you and read your research. To submit an article for consideration, please download a submission form here, and follow the guidelines.

8th July 2024

Today I arrived in Türkiye with my family to spend the summer at our home near Bodrum.

We bought our house nearly eighteen years ago and have been coming here for 1-2 months a year ever since (except during the pandemic of course!). It is such a special place to us – so many precious family memories. Swimming in the clear, warm waters of the Aegean, exploring hidden bays and coves, discovering ancient ruins and enjoying delicious Turkish food together. it is our happy place…

What are your summer plans? Wherever you are and whoever you are with, I wish you a wonderul and very happy summer.

3rd June 2024

Thank you so much to everyone who has ordered, bought and read A Farewell To Imperial İstanbul.

I am absolutely stunned by how warmly the book has been received, reaching the ‘Top New Release’ spot in three categories at Amazon! It was the Top Release in History of Turkey & The Ottoman Empire, in Historical Middle Eastern Fiction and in Historical World War I Fiction.

Just stunned! And so grateful to you all for your support and your interest in this story that is so deeply personal to me.

29th May 2024

Happy Launch Day to me!!

She is finally here! Welcome to the world, my beautiful book baby!

Today marks the debut of my second novel in the Ottoman Dynasty Chronicles, and I couldn’t be prouder. It feels a little like I’m sending my child off to school for the first time – nervous excitement mixed with a pinch of “Please, universe, let them be kind!” So, please, anyone who decides to read A Farewell To Imperial İstanbul, please be kind! I’m sensitive! Especially when it comes to this story, which means so much to me.

I hope that as my book embarks on its journey it finds its way to your hearts, bookshelves, and maybe even your reading nooks. Happy reading everyone!

26th April 2024

Today I finished the final, final, final edits of A Farewell To Imperial İstanbul!! I feel like doing a little happy dance in celebration! Writing this book has been a complete labour of love, and I have done little else over teh course the last six months – researching, writing and editing for 10-12 days almost every day! I think my husband and children are feeling a little neglected!

When I did the final read through and came to the final chapter, I was overcome with emotion as I read about the final hours of my grandparents and great-grandparents in their homeland. I can not imagine how they must have felt as they were torn from everything they had known a century ago. I just hope that I have done their story justice and told it with the sensitivity it deserves.

I have chose 29th May 2024 as the publication date for A Farewell To Imperial İstanbul. On this date in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and made İstanbul his Imperial capital. As my book was unfortunately not ready to be launced on 6th March as I had originally planned, this date seemed to me to be the next most appropriate release date.

You can pre-order your copy here…

6th March 2024

I know that it has been nearly a year since I updated this page, but I hope that you will all forgive me. I have been busy researching and writing my new book A Farewell To Imperial İstanbul which I hope you will enjoy!

A century ago, on the evening of 3rd March 1924, the Grand National Assembly in Ankara passed Law 431 abolishing the Ottoman Caliphate and exiling every member of the House of Osman from Türkiye. A few days later, exactly one hundred years ago today, on 6th March 1924, my entire family went into exile from their homeland. Their only crime, to be a member of the House of Osman. This book, which will be published later this spring, is my personal homage to my family who endured such great hardship and tragedy during the long years of their displacement…

At 9.30pm that night, both my great-grandfathers, Prince Ahmed Nihad Efendi (the grandson of Sultan Murad V) and Prince Ömer Hilmi Efendi (the son of Sultan Mehmed V Reşad) boarded the Simplon-Orient-Express at Sirkeci Railway Station in İstanbul and travelled into exile – never to return. Also aboard the train was my twenty year old grandfather, Prince Ali Vâsıb Efendi and my twelve year old grandmother, Princess Emine Mukbile Sultan.

I remember them telling me that on that cold spring night, they left their souls in İstanbul. This book is for them…

4th April 2023

This evening my father, Osman Selahaddin Efendi, gave a live interview to Fatih Altaylı on HaberTurk. He spoke about his life, and the lives in exile of my grandparents. He was asked a number of leading questions during the interview that lasted for over an hour and which was watched by about 8 million people.

When asked about his views on politics, he stressed the importance for all members of the Ottoman family to maintain a non-partisan public image. This is a view that I strongly and wholeheartedly share, as I believe the duty of royalty is to bind and unify the people and not to create or encourage division.

Click on this link to watch the interview in full.

1st March 2023

I was so delighted to be invited to contribute an article for The Historical Times’ latest edition on The Byzantines that was launched today. Such a fascinating period of History. It was difficult to choose what to write my piece on, but in the end I chose Princess Theodora Maria Kantakouzene – The Sultan’s Byzantine Wife.

To read my article, and the other interesting articles on the Byzantines, please visit The Historical Times website where you can also find out how to subscribe to the magazine.

The article is available to read in full here.

15th February 2023

On 6th February a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş, followed just a few hours later by a second earthquake measuring 7.7 magnitude. The scenes of utter devastation in the regions affected by these two horrific earthquakes in south-eastern Türkiye and northern Syria are absolutely heartbreaking to witness. Like so many, I cannot stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.

Three images particularly haunt me: That of a devoted father named Mesut Hancer who sat amongst the rubble of his collapsed home, holding the hand of his dead teenage daughter Irmak who lay on her bed crushed beneath slabs of concrete, mangled metal and broken bricks. That of a little girl who lay trapped under the ruins of her home for over 36 hours, all the while tenderly shielding her younger brother from the concrete that trapped them from above. And that of the newborn baby girl pulled from the rubble after her brave mother died having given birth while entombed beneath her collapsed house.

In times of such desperation, the true strength of nations comes through. And my heart warms at the spirit of unity and togetherness, the examples of great bravery and courage, and the huge outpouring of compassion and generosity that has been shown in the days following these catastrophic earthquakes. While I am in mourning for my homeland and for the people of Türkiye and Syria, I pray that although the road ahead is long we will rebuild stronger than before…

At the time of writing, the death toll stands at 41,000 with hundreds of thousands of people injured, but these figures are expected to rise considerably. Thousands are left without food or shelter, exposed to freezing conditions with no access to amenities or aid. They need our help… I will be making a private donation to help those in need as well as donating all profits from the sale of my books this month to the Turkish Red Crescent. AHBAP and AFAD are among some of the other organisations with large teams offering aid and support in the region.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Türkiye and for Syria.

Geçmiş olsun Türkiyem ve Syria…

2023

17th January 2023

This year I am spending my birthday in the French Alps.

To celebrate I went on a long walk with my husband, and had lunch at my favourite local restaurant. It snowed here yesterday and the whole village looks like a magical winter wonderland. It feels like I have stepped through the wardrobe doors, straight into Narnia!

Thank you to everyone for their many kind and thoughtful birthday messages.

31st December 2022

Due to the pandemic, it has been a long time since my family and I were able to go to the mountains and enjoy spending time together on the slopes. But we are finally back in the Alps, together. I hope that you are able to end this year with the people who you love, doing the things that you love the most. And I pray that the new year will bring you peace, happiness and good health.

25th November 2022

I just wanted to share with you that I am really enjoying the creative writing course that I am taking. I am learning so much and I have so many ideas for my next book! A big thank you to KM Weiland for creating such a fabulously thorough course and making it available online.

The sequel to The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus will be set between 1906-1909 – a notoriously turbulent period of Ottoman history that saw the Empire undergo huge change. It will continue the story of the Muradiye branch of the Ottoman family living in the Çırağan Palace, and will introduce a range of new historical characters important to their story.

I aim to finish the writing course by the end of the year so that I can start planning, outlining and structuring my new book in the new year. Then, with the coming of spring, the season of new beginnings, I hope to sit down at my desk and start writing again. That is my plan anyway! But with five children, a business and home to run, things do not always go to plan! I will keep you posted!

3rd October 2022

I have enrolled on an online creative writing course!

I know that I made many mistakes when I was writing The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus. As you may know, I never intended for it to be published and was only writing for my own pleasure and to record my family history for my children. It was simply a dream. But having published my first book and learned so much along the way, I want to try to learn more and develop from a writer to an author. I am hoping that this course will teach me how to better format the plot outline, structure scenes, create strong character arcs and develop deep and interesting themes.

Wish me luck!!

21st September 2022

Today I finished The Historical Fiction Club 31-Day Author’s Challenge! It was fun, interesting and of course challenging!

Click on this link if you’d like to find out more!

29th August 2022

Well, this is a HUGE surprise!!

I was so excited and completely overwhelmed to have woken up today to discover that The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus, has reached Number 1 on Amazon’s Bestseller list in the Historical Middle Eastern Biographies category!!

Feeling super chuffed, and oh so very proud of my ‘book baby’!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me by buying and reading my book.

8th July 2022

School is finished and the summer holidays are here! And for my family and for me that means one thing – it is time to fly out to Bodrum!

For the last fifteen years we have spent every summer at our home on the Bodrum peninsula. (Other than the last two years of course, on account of the Covid pandemic!) And this year we are more excited than ever to be spending the summer in Turkey, as we have missed it so much. Today I thought I would ask my five children what they had missed the most about not being able to come to Turkey for so long. Their answers made me smile, so I thought I would share their replies with you:

Maximilian Ali: “Emel’s cooking.” (Emel is the lovely lady who looks after us and our home)

Cosmo Tarik: “That’s easy. Definitely the food!”

Lysander Cengiz: “You know what I am going to say mummy! The food!”

Tatyana Aliye: “The food. And apple tea!”

Ferdinand Ziya: “Baklava and dondurma, and especially baklava with dondurma!”

Carrying on slightly from my June post, there really is something uniquely special about Turkish food. The diverse cultural and rich historic influences, together with the specific tastes of the many different regions in Turkey, have combined to create one of the world’s most famous and complex cuisines. So, no wonder all my children missed Turkish food so much!

After all, food is a delicious and the ultimate reminder of home…

3rd June 2022

In celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, my daughter made the most delicious English afternoon tea for us to enjoy today!

Whatever you may think of monarchy as an institution, or of the United Kingdom as a nation, I think that Queen Elizabeth II’s selfless dedication and devoted 70 year service to her country is something to be applauded and commemorated. I also think that British food can in no way compare to the rich and diverse Turkish cuisine BUT a traditional English afternoon tea really is something of a treat!

Tatyana Aliye made cucumber and smoked salmon sandwiches, she baked scones which were served with clotted cream and strawberry jam, and she made a delicious Victoria sponge cake! All very spoiling.

Today made me reflect on not only how many calories are in a cream tea(!), but how the fate of once great and powerful Empires can change…

6th May 2022

I am home…

After nearly three years of not being able to travel, it feels so emotional and so indescribably wonderful to be back home in İstanbul. No words – just pure joy, a sense of belonging and a few photos to share with you…

4th April 2022

I feel so so lucky to be back in the mountains. How I have missed their majestic, rugged beauty and the fresh clean air…

However, I have to admit that I was rather nervous when I slid into my ski boots and clicked on my skis this week! Due to Covid we have not been skiing for the last couple of years and in that time I have celebrated my 50th birthday (and a couple more birthdays), put on some excess kilos and I definitely feel stiffer, creakier and older than I did before! So I skied the runs carefully, slowly and perhaps overly gingerly – especially for the first few days of our trip! My youngest two children meanwhile, whizzed past me, often skiing backwards as they did so, and disappeared ahead in a spray of white powder snow!

I hope that now that the pandemic has passed its worst, you are once again able to enjoy all those things that you have missed doing. A rich, creamy hot chocolate after a long day on the slopes is definitely something that I have missed!

1st March 2022

“There is a morning inside you waiting to burst open into light.” Rumi

I cannot help but feel guilty for feeling excited today. For months I have been looking forward to launching my new little business venture, but somehow it just doesn’t seem right to be carrying on as normal when Europe is teetering on the brink of war and there is so much fear and suffering in the world. But the promise of Spring brings hope and reminds us that light will always shine through the darkness, so this is me carrying on as normal. I do always try to remain positive and optimistic in life. And when I see the bright yellow faces of Spring’s ever constant harbinger – the daffodil, swaying gracefully in the breeze, I cannot help but smile and feel the hope and promise of Spring…

Spring is also the season of new beginnings – and SULTAN PRIVÉ is very much a new beginning for me. I have had a long-held dream of sourcing beautiful products to sell in the UK – all made in Türkiye, and which encapsulate the quintessential essence of the Ottomans. And a few months ago I knew absolutely nothing at all about setting up and running a small retail business, yet here I am taking a risk and launching the Sultan Privé website today! I know that even just contemplating a new direction in life can be daunting for many, but I would encourage you to be brave. The first step towards a new beginning, or to trying something new, is always the hardest step to take. But once taken, who knows where your journey may lead or what excitement and adventures may lie ahead… 

 

18th February 2022

Last night Storm Eunice hit the UK and much of Western Europe, causing loss of life and major disruption. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered as a result of this frightening storm.

I know that we have been very lucky. Praise be to Allah that we are all ok and that there has been minimal damage done to our home. However, sadly we have lost many old trees in our garden which is upsetting. And frustratingly we have been left without power, with no expectation that it will be restored for at least two or three more days.

This morning we have been busy clearing our drive. Three trees fell blocking us in, so it was all hands to the deck! My husband is rarely happier than working in the garden with a chainsaw in his hand, so he busied himself cutting the huge trunks into moveable pieces!! The boys dragged the heavy branches off the drive and made a large bonfire, while my daughter and I picked up the twigs and brushed the drive clear of debris.

No power obviously means no heating, no hot water, no lighting, no cooking, no Netflix and no way to charge phones and laptops! Whilst cooking outside on our BBQ, wearing coats, hats and gloves inside and playing board games in candlelight has been fun for one night, I am not sure we will find it quite so amusing if the power stays off for much longer!

NOTE: Added on 24th March 2022 – Our power finally came back on today!! And yes, the novelty of having no power definitely did wear off!

2022

15th January 2022

Happy Birthday Maximilian Ali.

Today is my eldest son’s 22nd birthday! And to celebrate we are staying at Celtic Manor so that he can realise one of his dreams – to play golf on a Ryder Cup Course.

As is expected for a January morning in Wales, it is cold and rather wet and windy, but it is wonderful to be out in the fresh air, walking this beautiful course with three of my sons.

As a family we all really enjoy playing and watching sport. It is not only fun, good for our health and fitness, but it also allows us to spend much valued quality time together. And today was one of those very special days…

31st December 2021

Thank you to each and every one of you for your valued and continued support this year. It has been so lovely reading your messages, answering your questions, and hearing some of your thoughts and ideas on this site as well as on my social media platforms. I am truly humbled by your respect for and interest in the Ottoman Dynasty, and am particularly grateful to you for opening your hearts to Sultan Murad V. 2021 has certainly been another busy year for me – The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus celebrated it’s 1st Birthday with a successful virtual book tour, and the E-kitap of Boğaz’daki Altın Kafes was finally published on the anniversary of my Grandfather’s birth. So, what will 2022 have in store? Well, I can reveal that the sequel to my story is underway, and I will be posting updates of my progress throughout the year! I also hope to publish the paperback edition of Boğaz’daki Altın Kafes, possibly with a small launch where the story is set – in the beautiful Çırağan Palace. But for now that is but a dream…

Despite it being a challenging year, I hope that you can look back on 2021 with a smile as you remember the precious memories you made. And I hope too that you are able to embrace 2022 with joy, hope and optimism. I wish you and your families a very happy and a healthy new year, one filled with love, laughter, peace and good health…

Zorlu bir yılı geride bırakıyoruz. İnşallah 2022 hepimize huzur getirsin. Yeni yılda tüm ailenizle ve sevdiklerinizle birlikte mutlu olun, sağlıkla kalın.

 

29th November 2021

It was an emotional day for me today… For the past twenty years or so my father has divided his time between his home in Beylerbey in İstanbul and his house in UK. However, for nearly two years now he has not been able to return to England because of the pandemic. Due to all the travel restrictions we have therefore not been able to see each other in all this time which has been very difficult. (Other than on Zoom and FaceTime of course!) But today, we finally were able to see each other. To hug each other. My two eldest sons came with me to visit my father, and after a long lunch we enjoyed a walk along the banks on the River Thames….

I am sure that many of you have been separated from loved ones during the challenging times of this pandemic. However, I hope that you have been able to reunite, and if not quite yet, then I hope you will be able to soon.

13th October 2021

I have dreamed about this day for a very long time. Now that it is here, I can’t quite believe it! On the anniversary of my grandfather’s birth, I am delighted to announce that today I have finally published the Turkish E-book edition of my book, entitled Boğaz’daki Altın Kafes.

As many of you who have followed this blog know, it was not my original intention to publish the book. It was written to encourage my children’s interest and sense of pride in their heritage, and to teach them the forgotten customs and traditions of my family. I also wanted to record some of the many stories and memories that my grandparents shared with me of their lives in the palaces of Çırağan and Dolmabahçe before they are lost forever. And I wanted to discover more about the characters and personalities behind the faces in my faded old family photographs, so as to keep their memory alive. However, my father persuaded me to publish the book once he had read it and I just couldn’t refuse him. Once I had published the English edition, I was determined to publish the book in Turkish. It became almost like a quest for me.

Now that Boğaz’daki Altın Kafes is published, I feel that I have honoured my ancestors by telling their story and sharing their truth. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me on this journey. To my father Osman Selahaddin Efendi for all his invaluable help and advice, and to my mother and my husband for their constant love and support. To my cousin Leïla Sami for proofreading the original manuscript and to my step-mother Candan Osmanoğlu for so carefully editing the Turkish manuscript. To hocam, my learned and hugely knowledgable teacher Ekrem Ekinci, and to my friends Hüseyin Birol and Ibrahim Pazan for sharing their unique expertise. To my wonderful editor John Shakespeare Dyson and to my translator Özgü Çelik, for their meticulous and sensitive work on my manuscript. However, my greatest debt of gratitude is to my beloved grandparents, who shared with me the stories of their unique lives and their memories of a bygone age that not only inspired this book but that inspired me.

It is my hope that readers will enjoy the journey back to the splendour of Imperial İstanbul, and that during the hours they spend in their company they will feel able to open their hearts a little to Sultan Murad V and his family…

17th September 2021

You are forever in my heart Reşad. Allah rahmet eylesin.

 

11th August 2021

Today is a big day!! We have moved house!! Ten years ago we moved out of our family home and into another house. It was always meant to be a short term plan but as we all know, plans often change! Anyway, I just wanted to share with you that we are finally back home and I could not feel happier!

Now back to unpacking all those boxes!

7th July 2021

Firstly I would like to wish my father a very happy birthday. I have not seen him for over a year and a half on account of the pandemic which is so upsetting, (he lives in Istanbul and I live in the UK) but we had a lovely long video call this morning which was wonderful. He was very much looking forward to watching the second semi final of the Euros this evening, and then to seeing family and his friends at his birthday party tomorrow.

My father’s birthday is not the only one being celebrated today! Today is also the first anniversary of the publication of the paperback edition of The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus, which I published in honour of my father’s 80th birthday on this day last year! Yesterday, to mark the occasion, I organised a ‘Book Birthday Blitz’ Blog Tour following which a number of reviews, interviews and extracts have been posted by Book Bloggers.

I am so grateful to all the bloggers who took part in this book tour, and to ‘Rachel’s Random Resources’ for pulling everything together for me. I feel completely overwhelmed by all the positive and very generous reviews of the book. I hope you enjoy finding out a little bit more about me in the interviews. And I hope that by reading some of the extracts it will encourage you to want to learn more about Sultan Murad V and his family. If interested, you will find links to the reviews in the main ‘Reviews’ tab, and links to a selection of the Q&As in the main ‘Interviews’ tab. Links to the blogs that feature extracts from the book are listed below:

To read an extract describing an important Ottoman tradition following the birth of a child, please visit Lisa’s Reading Blog.

To read an extract depicting a scene that takes place in the beautiful Çırağan Palace hammam, please visit the Jazzy Book Reviews Blog.

To read an extract depicting the scene where Princess Fehime’s eunuch is walking down The Grande Rue de Péra, please visit the Ellesea Loves Reading Blog.

To read an extract describing the scene where Princess Hadice and Princess Fehime have their photographs taken, please visit the Just 4 My Books Blog.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful father! And Happy Birthday to my book baby – The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus!

 30th May 2021

It was one year ago today, on the anniversary of Sultan Murad V’s accession to the throne, that I published the ebook edition of The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus – the book that I had always dreamed of writing.

I assumed that once I had published the book, I would immediately start writing the sequel. However, due to quarantines, lockdowns, restrictions and all the other challenges that every one of us has experienced this past year, I have found it almost impossible to find the peace and quiet needed to write! With five children, my home is rarely quiet or peaceful, let alone during a global pandemic!

So instead I decided to focus my energies on other elements of the writing and self publishing process. I enrolled in an online creative writing course (hoping to make the sequel much better than the debut!), I had my book translated into Turkish (now I am just waiting for the right time to publish it!), and I have done much of the research for my new book (and can’t wait to get started on it!).

More recently I have been studying book marketing, advertising and PR online – how to run Amazon ads, promotional campaigns and host book blog tours etc – as I wanted to mark the ‘1st Birthday’ of my book in some way. Perhaps you can imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to find that The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus is the Number 1 Best Seller in three categories on Amazon.com!! I could not have hoped for a more amazing birthday present! I know the categories are niche, and it won’t be long before the book tumbles back down the rankings, but for now I am enjoying this moment and wanted to share it with you…

30th April 2021

I have been deeply concerned to see the numbers of new COVID cases rise so dramatically in Turkey over the last few weeks. I know that many people must be desperately worried, especially for their elderly and most vulnerable loved ones. I pray that the decisive steps taken by the Turkish Government, to place the country into full lockdown as of last night, will help bring down this spike in cases fast. I live in the UK where we have endured three separate full lockdowns in the last year, so I know what a great pressure these restrictions place on everyone. However lockdowns do seem to work, so if we are to end this pandemic, and protect those we love, we must all support one another and follow the government guidelines.

I have not been able to see my own father since January 2020 due to the restrictions. It has been incredibly hard for us as a family to be so far away from each other. However, I take great comfort in the fact that my father has now received his two vaccinations, giving him a layer of protection from this dreadful virus. He keeps busy writing his memoirs, and of course we are in regular contact via Zoom, email and messages. He has become far more tech-savvy than he was before the pandemic!! And he continues to surprise and amaze me by his energy and spirit! Yesterday, before lockdown came into effect, he was playing in an Over-80s tennis tournament at the Optimum Tenis Akademisi near Anadolu Hisar in Istanbul!! He impressed the captain of the Turkish National Over 80s team so much that he has invited him to join the National team! He is my inspiration…

20th March 2021

I view my book almost like my ‘literary baby’! Like motherhood, writing can be lonely, challenging, emotionally draining. It can raise feelings fear, of self-doubt, cause sleepless nights and of course the learning curve is undeniably steep! Yet, also like motherhood, writing for me has been born out of love – unconditional love and pride that I have for family. It is rewarding, exciting, unexpected and like the child you raise as a mother, the book you write as an author will always be part of you.

So, when I finished working on the final chapter of the Turkish translation of my book today, I smiled to myself on realising that the project had taken nine months! This new ‘baby’ is now almost ready to be introduced to the world… Thank you to my wonderful translator, Özgü Çelik, who has worked tirelessly to produce a sensitive, accurate and wonderful manuscript. I hope to be able to publish Boğaz’daki Altın Kafes later this year…

 

27th February 2021

And today, after lots of research I have finally finished my research on the Young Turks for my next book. Now onto other aspects of research, and the plot outline and scene structure. I didn’t make any outlines for my last book – one day I simply sat at my desk and started writing! Very unprofessional I know, but then again I did not plan to publish ‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’ and only ever intended for it to be read by my family! This time around, however, I am trying to be a little less amateur! With this in mind I have enrolled on an online writing course. I hope to learn so much and am now feeling very excited about taking a new approach with this next book. I still have no idea what its title will be though, which is frustrating me a little! Any ideas? Thinking about ‘The Changing Tides of the Bosphorus’ at the moment, but really not sure!

2021

17th January 2021