Reviews

Firstly, I would like to wish my father a very Happy Birthday!! However, his 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.

If interested, you will find links to a selection of the Q&As in the main ‘Interviews’ tab, and links to the blogs that feature extracts from the book on the ‘Write’ Now!! page (7th July 2021). Links to some of the reviews are listed below:

“It also shows the importance of keeping the flame of our ancestors lives alight…if only in remembrance.” Beyond the Books

“There are many historical novels, obviously, but there are few which blend fact with fiction and with emotive family issues woven through the narrative.” PAJ Newman

“The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus is not just a story of a wronged family, but also of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century.” Debjani’s Thoughts

“I can see this making a wonderful film.” All Things Booksie

I am so grateful to all the bloggers who took part in this book tour, and feel completely overwhelmed by all the positive and very generous reviews of the book.

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

A review that literally made me cry… Thank you ‘AmericanOnTheLoose‘, for seeing the characters and the story just as I hoped they would be seen. Blown away…

I just wanted to share my first ever YouTube review with you. Thank you so much Alexandra Antipa for taking the time to read The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus. And for posting this amazing and personal review on your blog.

I am very flattered and deeply moved that Alexandra felt such a strong connection to some of the themes running through the book and to some of the characters in the story. Receiving such great feedback has given me a much needed confidence boost. And it has given me the nudge I needed to get back to my desk and continue work on the sequel!

Review by Alexandra Antipa (June 2021)

“A book that offers a fascinating glimpse into the Ottoman Empire, written by Ayşe Osmanoğlu, an author who is also a member of the Imperial Ottoman Family.

My thoughts:

Let me start by telling you that I love Turkish writers. Orhan Pamuk has made me fall in love with the rich beauty of Istanbul, while Elif Shafak helped me get better acquainted with Sufism. She introduced me to Rumi, and I will always feel grateful to her for that. When I came across this wonderful book, I was immediately intrigued. I read the description on the back and I knew this would become one of my all-time favorite books.

There were so many things I loved about the book:

– Rich descriptions of Imperial life – it was interesting to read about the different traditions, such as the procession of the cradle, which was done for new babies born in the Ottoman family.

– Intrigue & conflict – I think the author wanted to show that the frailty of an empire if often accentuated from the inside. At the same time, we had the opportunity to realize the members of the Imperial Family were mere humans, with flaws and weaknesses. They made mistakes but their position rarely allowed for redemption, they were either punished on the spot or forced to live a life full of regret and guilt.

– Characters – I applaud the author for bringing them once again to life, I think this is the best way to tell history, through the people who actually got to live it.

– Detailed accounts of the clothes and foods from back then – they contributed to the exotic backdrop of the story, standing proof that a lavish life might have seemed great from the outside but it brought little comfort to those living behind the heavily-guarded gates.

– History lesson – the book offers such a detailed account of the Imperial Family and life in captivity. As readers we are introduced to complex topics, explained through the characters, in a way that anyone can understand (threats on the Ottoman Empire, rising nationalism, emerging blocks).

Verdict:

This is, without any doubt, one of the best books I have ever read. It is the kind of story that draws you in from the start. The author has a natural talent for writing and it was a pleasure to travel back in time, reading about the complex life and challenges of the Ottoman Imperial Family. Highly recommended!”

I would like to thank Katherine Mezzacappa, at the Historical Novel Society, for her generously positive and insightful review of ‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’. I am particularly delighted by her view of the character of Sultan Murad V. And particularly grateful to her for her advise about perhaps making my characters more individual and personable. I gladly take this advise on board for the sequel…

Review by Katherine Mezzacappa of The Historical Novel Society (November 2020)

“Set in the Çırağan Palace in Istanbul in 1903-1905, this novel, written by a direct descendant, chronicles the lengthy gilded imprisonment and aftermath of the death of the deposed Sultan Murad V, an urbane, enlightened, and cultured man usurped by his conservative younger brother. Beyond the palace’s walls the Ottoman empire gradually crumbles, encroached on by Imperial Russia.

A highly ritualised life, especially around the birth of a child, co-exists with an interest in Paris fashions on the part of the ladies of Murad’s extended family, and the reading of the latest Sherlock Holmes story. Murad reflects on world events like the signing of the Entente Cordiale, the oddity of a British monarchy that is anything but British, and recalls dancing a quadrille with a daughter of Queen Victoria. He treats a nervous breakdown with Veuve Clicquot. The novel is also thronged with faithful retainers; one elderly eunuch is a particularly intriguing character who probably deserves a novel to himself.

We learn more about the characters’ roles in history than we do about them as individual people, which can sometimes make them hard to distinguish one from the other, making the family tree provided useful and necessary. Osmanoğlu says in her preface that what she has written is ‘neither an historical novel, nor an academic study – it seems to me to sit somewhere in between!’ This is a richly woven carpet of a book but sometimes, due to extended explicatory passages, it does indeed read more like a history book than a novel.“

I feel completely overwhelmed and undeserving of the positive and supportive reviews I have received on ‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’.

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has bought and read the book. I hope that you enjoyed the story and that you feel that you know a little more about Sultan Murad V and his family having done so. I also hope that you felt able to open your hearts a little to them all, while spending some time in their company…

Secondly, I would like to say a very special thank you to everyone who so kindly wrote a review. I hope that these reviews will encourage others to want to read the story of Murad V and his family too…

Excerpts From A Selection of Amazon Reviews

If you haven’t got your copy of ‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’ yet perhaps the reviews I have shared above may have tempted you into logging into Amazon, Kobo or nook! And if you do decide to read the book, please do leave a review as I would love to know what you think of the story…