Two Empresses

by Brandy Purdy

  10. Discuss the lives of the women in the Sultan’s harem, the rituals, rivalries, affairs, ambitions, and acts of treachery. Do you think it was a good or happy life for these women or a velvet-cushioned prison with gilded bars where the inmates wore silk and jewels?

  11. Discuss the roles modesty and exhibitionism play in this novel. In the convent girls are taught to keep their bodies covered and to never touch them sensually or out of curiosity; the girls are told to mortify rather than glorify the flesh. On her wedding night Rose is embarrassed when her aunt dresses her in a lace negligee, yet a few years later Rose is wearing transparent gowns and even parading about nude for Barras’s pleasure. In the harem women embrace their sensuality and glorify their bodies; they spend long hours lounging about nude in the baths and even attend a special school to study the erotic arts. Discuss how Rose’s and Aimee’s attitudes about modesty and sensuality change over time and why.

  12. Discuss Aimee’s rise to prominence in the harem. Do you think it was due solely to her unique appearance—blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin? Do you think her story would have been different if she had been a brunette? Discuss the manner in which she is presented to Abdul Hamid, in her pink Parisian ball gown as part of a zoo on wheels. She is given a choice, to submit to the Sultan or die; what would you have done in her position?

  13. As she rises to favor and suffers several “accidents” and betrayals, Aimee grows increasingly mistrustful. She longs for a confidante, a real friend, but cannot let her guard down enough to let anyone in. Do you think she was right to be so wary? Should she have been more receptive to overtures of friendship?

  14. Why can’t Aimee return Selim’s love? Why does she repeatedly turn away from his declarations of love? When he asks her to put on her French ball gown and come to him and presents her with a French style sitting room, why does she reject him and her past? Why does she burn the dress?

  15. Selim and later Aimee both say “Love requires sacrifice.” Do you think this is true? What sacrifices do they make for love and why? Were they right to? Aimee kills Mustafa to save Mahmoud and make him sultan. Do you think she was right to do this? Would you have done this for your own child?