I owe a debt to all the historians who have broadened our appreciation of the Ottoman Empire; I’ve also drawn constantly on the observations of contemporary travelers. Any errors or manipulations in the book are entirely mine.
Daisy Goodwin encouraged me to take a detective-story approach to the Ottoman Empire. Yashim waited to live on the page until I hit on a period: Istanbul in the 1830s. Christine Edzard, who adapted Little Dorrit to film, has shared her passion for nineteenth-century costume—and mores. Richard Goodwin read the book in Dickensian installments as it flowed forth; having filmed various Agatha Christie novels, he was well positioned to advise on everything from plot tweaks to dialogue. Jocasta Innes, an inveterate thriller reader, steered me away from potential failures on continuity. I’m grateful to them all, and to Sarah Wain and Clare Michell for their readings and comments.
Sarah Chalfant, my agent at the Wylie Agency, brought me together with Sarah Crichton in New York, and then with editors around the world. Sarah Crichton has been matchless in her encouragement—and who says editors these days don’t edit? Julian Loose, at Faber, unlocked the whole thing for me: all thanks to him.
In Istanbul, I’d particularly like to thank Professor Norman Stone of Koc University, and John Scott, the editor of Cornucopia, the beautiful and intelligent magazine devoted to all things Turkish.
My oldest boys fought me for control of the computer with remorseless cunning; they proved themselves to be Turing-level code breakers, but they never, ever wiped the hard drive and I’m grateful to them for that. The youngest two took a more remote interest in the coalface, but cheered me along by wandering in for more paper and chats. All my books have been for them.
This book wouldn’t have been written, though, without Kate’s encouragement and enthusiasm. It’s been a few years since we tramped down together from Poland to Turkey, saw the storks flying north across the Sea of Marmara, and took our final steps toward the domes of Istanbul and the great Bosphorus below, into the city that had fed our imaginations for six months. We were not disappointed.
This book is dedicated to her.