Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About This Book
In 1788, Aimée de Buc de Rivery, 13-year-old Creole daughter of a prominent family in Martinique, was returning from convent school in France when her ship was captured by pirates. She was sold to a slave trader in Tunis who, in turn, sold her to the household of the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople, where she was initiated into his seraglio. The seraglio was a place of astonishing, disorienting weirdness: The several hundred women there led lives of unfathomable luxury and ease in what was essentially a prison. Forbidden to venture beyond the palace walls, watched day and night by court eunuchs, and denied even the rudiments of education, the women filled their days by bathing, receiving instruction (from the eunuchs) in every imaginable sexual technique, and gossiping. The sultan could not possibly sleep with all of his thousands of wives, so there was a great deal of competition among those who wished to receive his attention. Aimée, understandably slow in picking up the rules of the game, eventually scored a coup when she was summoned to spend the night with the sultan--only to have him die later in the evening. Ordinarily this would have resulted in her banishment, but the new sultan was enraptured by her skill on the violin and made her one of his favorites. She also became the adoptive mother of a son who succeeded to the sultanate and proceeded to institute a number of pro-Western reforms. Aimée survived it all--the intrigues of the court, the army coups, the bitchiness in the harem--and was allowed the privilege of receiving last rites from a Jesuit on her deathbed.
Reading Guide
- Nakshidil tells her son that Turkey is like an ancient tree with its roots in the East and its limbs in the West. What does she mean? How does this apply to Turkey today?
- What are the meanings of the word harem in the book? Why was the harem important for the sultan?
- How does Nakshidil find life in the harem similar to life in the convent? What family values and what ways to please a man did she learn in the convent? How did they differ from the ones she was taught in the harem?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Doubleday.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
