A magical historical novel about an astonishing eight-year-old girl in the last days of the Ottoman Empire. It is 1877, on the shores of the Black Sea, and the omens for the newborn Eleonora Cohen are hardly promising. Not only does her mother die in childbirth, but her village is being attacked by the Tsar's Royal Cavalry. However, despite this bad beginning, a sour stepmother and a traumatic journey in the hold of a ship, young Eleonora grows into a remarkably clever but very engaging child. And when a heartbreaking tragedy leaves her marooned in Istanbul, where spies and boarded-up harems and sudden death are as much a part of life as delicious spices, Paris fashions and rosewater, it is Eleonora's extraordinary courage and character which lead her straight to the Sultan's court, and to her salvation.
- ISBN10 0755377699
- ISBN13 9780755377695
- Publish Date 15 March 2011 (first published 8 February 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 7 December 2011
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Headline Publishing Group
- Imprint Headline Review
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English