IN the early 18th century, the Ottoman Empire was on relatively peaceful terms with Europe but there was an increasing class divide that resulted in a janissary revolt. Referred to as the Tulip Era due to the immense popularity of tulips in Istanbul, this era witnessed various modern developments such as the founding of a printing press.

The story of İskender Pala’s historical novel Tulip of Istanbul, a translation of the Turkish novel Katre-i Matem, revolves around the discovery and cultivation of a rare bulb of tulip in Istanbul. The novel, however, cannot be simply referred to as a historical novel because it is also a murder-mystery, romance and political commentary. But above all it’s a story of great passion and longing because “Istanbul and love — the two words are almost indivisible”.

When the book opens we learn that two boys have joined the Layhar Stokehouse. The older boy called Falco is our protagonist who has recently lost his beloved Nakşigül. When he married the girl of his dreams, he thought he was the luckiest man on earth only to wake up the next morning to find his bride dead, cut into pieces. If that wasn’t enough to rob him of his sanity he loses all sense of reality when he is imprisoned on being accused of Nakşigül’s murder by her father.

However, luckily Falco manages to escape while being transferred to a different prison. He joins the Stokehouse after altering his appearance. There he meets an unusually quiet boy called YeYe and Falco reveals his secret to his new friend. However, Falco doesn’t know that YeYe was in love with a girl but was wrongfully sent to a mental asylum by the father of that girl. Sanity and love, for Pala, are hard to find together in one person. “It is cruel to label people as insane if they get into this state because of love”, argues a doctor from the mental asylum who believes that the difference between ordinary people who lose their reason and the true lovers is that the lovers “lock themselves on to a single target and, because they are so wrapped up in their loved ones, they react to nothing else. It’s as if their beloved is a sun and they are trapped in the sunlight”. Falco, we are told, “had managed to withstand all the torture and beatings, possibly because he was so wrapped up in his own thoughts of Nakşigül”.

If Falco is outspoken and worldly, YeYe doesn’t know much about the ways of the world and chooses to suffer in silence. The two of them decide to solve the mystery of Nakşigül’s murder at any cost but to their immense astonishment when they visit the area where the girl’s father lived they can’t find any houses there. To make matters worse, the imam of the neighbourhood mosque who performed his marriage ceremony refuses to recognise Falco and tells him there is no person by the name of his father-in-law in that area.

On their wedding night Nakşigül had half a tulip bulb in her hand that Falco took when she died and since then he has always kept it with him as a reminder of love and happiness. Both friends visit Hafız Çelebi, a legendary gardener recognised for his knowledge of tulips. Çelebi is a wise and kind man who takes on the role of a mentor and father for YeYe when he later becomes his apprentice. He tells them that the bulb in Falco’s hands is of a rare kind for which many people would be willing to pay a lot of money. As it’s only half a bulb, its other half, according to Çelebi, would produce an identical tulip. Falco and YeYe decide to let Çelebi grow that bulb, hoping that when it booms and they find its identical tulip some of their questions regarding Nakşigül’s murder and the disappearance of her father might be answered.

Parallel to this narrative line is the story of another murder mystery. İbrahim Pasha, the grand vizier “perversely lavish in the way he spent the savings accumulated by the Sultan” is renowned for his great wits and obsession for solving hard puzzles. He receives a gift basket and finds, under all the dry fruits and nuts, a severed head of a woman. Pasha keeps this a secret and sets out to solve this mystery by using all the resources at his hand.

The third thread of the narrative takes us to the Sultan himself who is told by Judge Ishak that his brother, the late Sultan, was in love with a concubine who gave birth to a male child after his death. The Sultan, “an avaricious, miserly man who disliked war”, instructs him to find the child and have him executed immediately. However, the young man has suddenly disappeared and nobody can locate him.

While developing these three intricate plot lines Pala skillfully delineates the social and political milieu of that time. We find out how the gap between the rich and the poor was rapidly increasing: “Istanbul had never been so full of contradictions. Both its wealth and poverty had reached previously unknown levels, creating a treacherously dangerous imbalance.”

The rulers, nevertheless, were content to devote the state resources to modernising the city by building new roads and gardens in European style, and having lavish parties where they could gather to indulge in food and poetry — “the battle of words instantly filling the room with witticisms and subtle allusions”. We come to know the art scene at that time and are introduced to the famous poet Nadeem and other well-known artists.

I found myself completely immersed in the story and loved how Pala titled his chapters in the form of questions. Moreover, he tells many interesting Turkish and Islamic folklores which further embellish this poetic tale of love and murder.

However, there were so many typos in the English translation that I would have given up reading if it were not for Pala’s storytelling. Ruth Whitehouse’s translation is alright but it would have been certainly improved by good editing and proofreading. Also, there are some inconsistencies in the translation of different Turkish names into English and the use of Turkish spellings for different names. For instance, İbrahim Pasha’s first name is written in the Turkish alphabet but the last name has English spellings. If you enjoy a book despite the fact that the translation is average at best, as in this case, it only proves how great it must be in its original form. İskender Pala is one of the most imminent and well-respected Turkish writers today and going by what a page-turner Tulip of Istanbul is, one can only hope that more of his works are translated into English.

Tulip of Istanbul

(HISTORICAL NOVEL)

By İskender Pala

Translated by Ruth Whitehouse

Kapi Yayinlari

ISBN 978-6055107819

480pp.