Day 21

Last Letter from Istanbul, by Lucy Foley

The blurb on the back of this book compares it to the work of Santa Montefiore and Victoria Hislop. This is not really fair to them or to Lucy Foley, because I don’t think they are trying to do the same thing at all. It is true that it does fall into the category of historical fiction but its prime concern is not the historical story but the effects it has on the people caught up in it. Historical detail is disjointed and used sparingly as a part of the characters’ story and development. There is a complete lack of emotion or sentimentality.This is the reverse of most popular historical fiction.

The story is set in the aftermath of the First World War in Istanbul in 1921. One tends to forget that other countries were involved in the war apart from England, France and Germany, but the great loser was the Ottoman Empire. A whole way of life was destroyed totally and elements of the war and the end of empire were  horrific and the consequences for the survivors, military and civilian were shattering.

The  story is told in very short sections. Each chapter is named for the character whose point of view is being represented, Nur, The Boy, The Prisoner, George and The Traveller, although with the exception of the Traveller, they are all in the third person. Each chapter is told in the present and the past is only indirectly alluded to and, as reader, you are very aware that you know very little about these people. This is what makes it difficult  at first to engage with them. However it is worth persevering because when it finally happens you become totally involved.

The writing is beautiful. In these brief snapshots we have hugely evocative impressions of Istanbul, the war and the contrasting conventions of the Turks and the British, each of whom, at heart, think the other is barbaric and uncivilised.

I ended up enjoying this book but it very nearly didn’t happen because, if I hadn’t been reviewing it, I would probably have given up after the first few chapters because it develops slowly, very slowly, and gives little away. I think I was a third of the way through before I really started engaging with the characters. Having read the whole book, I see the point of this, but it is a chancy strategy for an author to play, because I suspect many readers will not make the effort to persevere or will skip chunks to get to the ending faster, but it will be their loss. The beauty of this book is in the way the detail is revealed like a slowly opening flower.

Music

Uskadera – Turkish folk song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9No8kVSXqQ&list=RD8RfVZkohnh8&index=2

and here’s Eartha Kitt’s version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBF5hOb7JAM

 

Food

A delicious Turkish breakfast

Sleeping Figs

Serves 4

·      10 dried figs 

·      500 ml milk 

·      2 fresh figs 

·      2 tablespoons grape molasses (if your local deli or supermarket doesn’t stock this, Amazon does.)

·      60g walnuts 

 

Method

1.         Put the dried figs in a bowl, cover with hot water and leave to soak for 15 minutes.

2.         Transfer the dried figs to paper towel, leave to drain for 10 minutes, then remove the stalks.

3.         Roughly chop each dried fig into about six pieces and then set aside. 

4.         Warm the milk in a saucepan over low heat until it reaches a low simmer. Try to keep the temperature around 70°C (160°F) if you have a food thermometer, being careful not to let the milk start to boil. 

5.         Add the chopped figs and, using a stick blender, mix to a purée.

6.         Simmer for a further 5 minutes. (If you don’t have a stick blender, pour the mixture into a blender and pulse until smooth, then pour it back into the saucepan and warm for a further 7 minutes).

7.         Half fill four small bowls with the fig purée.

8.         Put the bowls in a cool spot, cover with a tea towel (dish towel) and rest for 2 hours.

9.         Then cover the bowls with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. 

10.   When you’re nearly ready to serve, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).

11.   Cut each fresh fig into quarters and place them on a baking tray with the skin side down. Brush each fig piece with grape molasses, then bake for 5 minutes until slightly soft but still semi-firm. 

12.   Roughly chop the walnuts using a food processor, or by hand.

13.   Remove the fig purée cups from the fridge.

14.   Place two fig quarters on each cup and sprinkle the crushed walnuts over the top, then serve with Greek yoghourt.

 

Today’s picture

This is a portrait of Suleiman the Magnificent painted by Titian probably in 1530. It is interesting because it is a wonderful portrait but it is unlikely that Titian ever saw Suleiman in the flesh.

Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent came to power in 1520 having inherited a vast empire which not only included Syria, Palestine, Egypt and large parts of Arabia but extended to the outskirts of  Vienna in the north and to parts of the African coast in the South.

Suleiman was far too grand to sit for the attendants of the ambassadors and other foreigners he received so European artists worked from sketches created by painters who had been part of foreign embassies to the Ottoman court. This portrait by a follower of Gentile Bellini painted in the early 1520s, soon after Suleiman came to the throne, may have served as the model on which Titian based his portrait.