by Jenny White
I had found the second teapot when I went back to the sea hamam the following day. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, to rest my hand in her grave. There was no tea in that pot, but long, thick strands. Dried tube flowers, like the ones Violet had prepared as an infusion for Mama to breathe into her lungs to ease her cough. I hurled the pot, like a snake, into the water, but the poison had long done its work. When I confronted her, Violet admitted she had kept Mary below the water until she exhausted herself. It was to save me, Violet insisted. I have been saved from myself so thoroughly that I am left with a stranger, I replied before leading her to the pond. There our bond was forged, and now it is cut.
Mary, though—she is not dead, but one of those princesses of my youth pinned to the sand, waiting. My words will make her live again. Her feet like fresh milk cupped by my hands.
A fire is burning low in the grate, but the room is warm with the colors of home. My dayi has sent me carpets and books and even a samovar so that I may feel his proximity. I spend my days in study and learn to wield many kinds of words, gauging their power. The secret is in how you hold the sword, in the flick of the wrist.
Acknowledgments
I am deeply grateful to my agent, Al Zuckerman, and to Amy Cherry, my editor, for their faith in this book and for their expert guidance. I also wish to thank Stephen Kimmel, Edite Kroll, Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, Roger Owen, Donald Quataert, Kevin Reinhart, and Corky White for reading and commenting on the manuscript; Feride Çiçekoğlu for her gift of a pomegranate; and Carl Leiden for getting the ball rolling. Thanks to Linda Barlow, friend and mentor. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Michael Freeman, tireless editor, muse, and hand holder, who believed it would happen.
Table of Contents
Praise
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
Contents
1. Dark Eyes
2. When the Lodos Blows
3. The Ambassador’s Daughter
4. June 15, 1886
5. The Sea Hamam
6. June 18, 1886
7. Your Rolling Pearl
8. Rules of Engagement
9. Memory
10. Hill of Stars
11. Your Brush Is the Bowstring
12. The Old Superintendent
13. A Perfect Fit
14. Blood
15. July 1, 1886
16. The Clean Soil of Reason
17. July 3, 1886
18. Kismet
19. The Crimson Thread
20. Avi
21. The Bedestan
22. Crevice
23. The Modernists
24. The Kangal Dog
25. Deep Sea
26. Salt, Not Sweet
27. The Smell of Roses
28. July 9, 1886
29. Visions
30. Feet Like Milk
31. The Girl Wife
32. With Wine-Red Necks
33. Elias Usta’s Workmanship
34. The Eunuch and the Driver
35. The Dust of Your Street
36. Sea Glass
37. Enduring Principles
38. A Shared Pipe
39. The Gate of the Spoonmakers
40. July 17, 1886
41. Beautiful Machinery
42. The Eunuch
43. The End of Dreams
44. The Past Is the Vessel of the Future
45. A Thin Blade
46. A Hundred Braids
47. Villa at Tarabya
48. The Net
49. The Floating Stage
50. Barely a Sound
51. The Ming Vase
52. The Eye of the Pool
53. Chaos in the Tapestry of Life
54. Death Is Too Easy
Acknowledgments