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An unassuming, kind, Scottish doctor has volunteered to serve at the local military hospital. This is the basis for a love story and dance of keeping within decorous rules which are constantly changing. Nur had never worn a veil, but it is now considered a sign of respectability in a woman who encounters the occupying enemy – even when he does her less harm than her own family. Just didn’t work for me. I love historical fiction. Especially about history that is not well known. I also really like multiple POV stories so you can see several facets of the same story. But I found myself pushing to keep going. The story was soooo slow! Could definitely have used some editing. It’s a time of uncertainty: there are occupation forces on the streets, refugees arriving on a daily basis and everyone’s hustling to survive. Despite that, for Nur it’s also a time of increased freedom: she can go out to work as a teacher, substituting for her brother who went off to war and hasn’t returned, and she no longer needs to wear the veil when leaving the house. But this freedom is new and not without limitations: she sees the disapproving looks as she walks the streets of her city, and knows that she can only push against long-held customs and norms so much. The book did gain a bit of momentum in the final chapters, but not enough to turn my opinion of the book around.
Her liberation has come at a price. She is a teacher now and a child's guardian, she understands duty and responsibility. What then, when circumstances have her questioning her core values? What would her father have said? Or her little brother, who was forced to fight in his country's war? A sorrowful war changes a country forever- changes its people, can the trauma be reversed? Forgiven? Is there room for love in such a hateful sphere? In terms of characters, I didn’t really feel like any of them were very fleshed out. I didn’t feel invested in their lives and found them all to be forgettable. I felt totally apathetic towards them all. Last Letter from Istanbul is an evocative and emotional novel: it’s a transporting story of family ties, love and sacrifice, and the noble spirit at the heart of it all, which I came to understand and admire. This is a story of Istanbul/Constantinople in 1921 during the Allied Occupation. A sad, but beautiful ode to the people who claimed it as their own, and those who occupied it after the war. It is about a young teacher who saved one of her Armenian pupils from genocide, took care of her elderly grandmother and mother, and learnt the hard truths of what war really was from all sides. She had to come to terms with some truths that was hard to stomach...and forgive.The house has been transformed into an army hospital, it is a prize of war in the hands of the British. And as Nur weaves through the streets carrying the embroideries that have become her livelihood, Constantinople swarms with Allied soldiers – a reminder of how far she and her city have fallen.
This conflict between freedom and propriety swirls around Nur and comes to the fore when she finds herself asking for help. George is the enemy personified and I felt for Nur when she’s in his company because of the internal struggles she endures each time. George seems to have less of an understanding of this because he’s one of the occupying forces and a man, although he’s not without a sense of (somewhat) delayed propriety. On one of these secret visits Nur is discovered by Dr George Monroe, a medical officer in the British army and to Nur, a sworn enemy. This is not to be their first encounter and as a reader we witness how their tentative but very delicate relationship develops over a period of time. Meanwhile, George Monroe is a Scottish doctor, administering at the local military hospital overlooking the Bosporus, which was once Nur’s grand family home. When the Armenian boy requires help, their lives become entwined with consequences neither could have foreseen.
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This will sweep you away for the summer. Lucy Foley blends a rich history, haunting secrets and a timeless love story’ Santa Montefiore, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Deverill series Don't miss Lucy Foley's Sunday Times bestselling crime debut, THE HUNTING PARTY, available to buy now.* Before the war Nur lived a happy and very comfortable existence in a beautiful mansion, a place where she had a wonderful upbringing with warm childhood memories. But following the war and the occupation of her beloved city, all that changed as her home fell under the authority of the British Army and was transformed into a hospital. By 1921 the Allied soldiers had well established themselves in the city of Constantinople. The local inhabitants remained fearful with many also carrying a great hatred against these invaders. The Allies took over their homes and buildings, taking up residence in what were once the grand homes of Turkish traders and successful business people. For one inhabitant, Nur, this occupation, and the war leading up to it, has taken everything from her. Her gentle brother, a teacher, never returned home from fighting and is now presumed dead. Her mother is unable to cope since and struggles daily to deal with her loss. Nur now resides in cramped living conditions with her mother, grandmother and a young orphaned boy, who Nur has committed herself to looking after. Nur’s only little bit of pleasure is her very occasional, and very secret, visits to her old family home across the Bosphorus river.
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