The Debt of Tamar by Nicole Dweck

The Debt of Tamar

by Nicole Dweck

"Four hundred years before Oskar Schindler there was Suleiman the Magnificent, an Ottoman sultan who rescued thousands of Jews from the Inquisition... In 1544, as Inquisition fires rage in Portugal, young José Mendez discovers he's Jewish--and that his parents died for their faith. With the help of the Ottoman sultan, he escapes and makes a new life in Istanbul, where he digs deeper into his Jewish roots. But when his own daughter secretly falls in love with the sultan's Muslim grandson, José finds himself in a life-changing dilemma, one that will shape generations to come. In 2002, Selim Osman, the last living descendant of the Ottoman sultanate, flees Istanbul for New York. In a twist of fate he meets Hannah, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Unaware the connection they share goes back centuries, Hannah and Selim feel an immediate pull to one another. But when something from Selim's past comes to light, the act that bound two families ages ago ripples into the future, threatening to tear them apart."--

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

3 of 5 stars

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"Though the currents of the universe would always push man toward his fate, even a simple-minded trout can sometimes swim against the tide."



This story spans from 16th century Portugal and the Ottoman Empire, Nazi occupied Paris in the 1940s, Present day Turkey and United States of America. While this might sound like it would make the whole story very confusing with so many different time periods and culture changes it never was. Dweck did an amazing job of intertwining the stories together and made them all fit together very nicely and made it so you never got confused on who the characters were.

The story starts in the 16th century with the burning of unrepentant Jews. With this we meet Doña Antonia Nissim, her daughter Reyna and nephew Jose who are Jews living a "fake life" so they can stay safe and not get injured. We get to see their escape into Turkey with the help of Sultan Sulieman the Magnificent. Fast forward the story until Jose's and Reyna's daughter is almost grown and falls in love with the Sultan's son Murat. This makes Jose make a tough decision which makes the debt. Thus, causing the Sultan's curse.

We then jump to present day Turkey where we meet Selim Osman, the last living descendant of the Ottoman Sultans. We also meet Ayda who is a side character that we learn a little about and then don't hear from her again until the end. I'm not going to lie I really did struggle with Selim as a character due to how he was so closed off and didn't want to let Ayda in even after they had been together for quite awhile. I also didn't like how he kept very important information from her. Having said that though because he did keep some information from her, we were able to meet Hanna. With Hanna is where we get taken to Nazi occupied Paris and get to learn what happened to Reyna and Jose's daughter and how her family continued on. With Hanna also the Sultan's curse is finally broken and Selim is able to go about the rest of his short life as a happy man.

While there was an undertone of sadness throughout the whole story it was never overtaking due to the happy family moments that would happen.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and I can't wait to see what Dweck writes in the future.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

See more reviews like this on my blog.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 9 September, 2015: Finished reading
  • 9 September, 2015: Reviewed