Point taken! But you’ll need to get up a petition, I’m afraid: I write as fast as I can – and then do something foolish like making New Year’s Resolutions, to find I can’t do a thing all day.
Thanks for asking, Michael, I have a small raft of books on the slips – but the very next one is The Latin Reader, a potentially final Istanbul adventure with Yashim the investigator. It should be out this Summer.
Beyond that, I have a sort of cooking novel, set in 1860s London; a Civil War (Roundheads v Cavaliers) story, set near my home in Dorset; an Istanbul book, non-fiction; and a really, really tense airport style thriller which I mean to issue under a pseudonym I have always wanted to use: Benzine McCullum. It’s just a question of getting down to any one of them….!
best
Jason
Thanks Jason. I look forward to your new endeavours. BTW, isn’t a cooking book set in London in the 1860′s something of an oxymoron? (:>)
Ha ha: and maybe that’s why it’s rather slow going on that one…!
I can’t wait for the non-fiction book about Istanbul! If it’s anything like ‘Lords of the Horizons’, it will be pretty special. Good luck! Regards, Will
Dear Jason, I love reading your books and your descriptions of Istanbul, I lived there for several years and worked in the British Consulate General as a nurse.Over that time were many joys and some tragic events including the earthquake of 1999 and the bombing of the consulate 1 year after we all left for NZ .Your stories really keep me in the real and wonderful world of a city which will forever be in my heart. I hope you keep writing on this remarkable time in history too .I love Ottoman history art cooking and culture. My oldest daughter now 13 is an Istanbullu I will be starting her off on your stories soon! Much praise for recreating the Istanbul I am familiar with and all the best– Annie
Just read my first Goodwin novel, The janissary tree – My favorite passage? the soup sellers observation that goes something like this -”you make the same soup for a long time and then you decide to add cardamon – some like it, some don’t and most don’t care – After awhile you add beans with the same results – As time goes on nobody remembers what the original soup tasted like – Seems to be a allegory on the changes in societal behavior over the past few decades. Very few have been around long enough to even remember what the soup was like to begin with
Dear Mr Goodwin,
Your book LORDS OF THE HORIZONS is indeed most interesting and very well written. It is a very detailed history of the Ottoman Empire. I have read the 1998 paperback edition, so I don’t know if you made some corrections in the next editions. Nevetheless, I would like to point out a couple of errors: On page 55, footnote, you explain that Istanbul may be a contraction of the Greek “is tin polis”. The correct is “is tin POLIN”. On page 91 you state that the empire was a land of mountains:…,” Mount Olympus on the Peloponnese”. This is an important mistake, because Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek Gods is on THE GREEK MAINLAND, between Larissa and Thessaloniki.
With best regards
Dear Chloe,
Thank you so very much for those observations: timeo danaos et dona ferentes…. I’m not convinced about the contraction of ‘is tin polin’ (thank you) – are you? It seems an odd way to find a name for a big city. Of course the Ottomans always called it Constantinople. As for Olympos, Λυπάμαι! To think I have actually seen it.
best wishes,
Jason
Absolutely. Into Icelandic, Albanian and Korean too, among the forty odd translations worldwide! The publisher is Piper Verlag: Die Weissheit des Eunuchens (rotten title), Der Antiquar von Constantinopel, usw. I hope you find them and do feel free to comment on the translation: I’d be very interested.
I’ve just finished all four Yashim books, and am planning on Lords of the Horizons. But I’ve got a (not serious) problem: I “read” the books via audiobook, which means I don’t know how to spell anything in the books, and so can’t look them up when I want to learn more about Istanbul! I’m assuming that the “Besiktas” palace featured in Evil Eye is the Dolmabahce Palace. But how do I spell “cayeek”? I want to see what one looks like. Thanks for a wonderful introduction to the Ottoman world.
Thanks for the kind comments, Bruce. Unusual problem – but yes, the palace at Besiktas stood very near the Dolmabahce Palace but was an earlier building, also in a fundamentally European style. It was demolished to make way for the Dolmabahce in, I think, 1843. As for the caiques, the gondolas of Istanbul, run a search on Ottoman caiques – there are some really lovely illustrations out there. So very few survive.Thanks for getting in touch.
Dear Mr Goodwin: I was in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar last weekend (I live and work in Doha) and there in the 3rd floor gallery, tucked away behind a suit of armor was the BELLINI CARD! There he was, Mehmet II looking at the viewer over his left shoulder, a gorgeously detailed shoulder by G Bellini. It was an exciting moment for me! If you ever come to Doha, be sure to go see this portrait. I am glad it is not at the bottom of the Grand Canal.
In your short movie “Yashim’s Istanbul” you make a passing reference to “[your] favourite bookshop in Istanbul” — but if you named the shop, I missed it. Can you help a fellow bibliophile (who plans to visit Istanbul in October) by providing more details? Thank you…
Yes: it’s in the Book Bazaar, in the narrow passage that leads from the Grand Bazaar entrance on bayezit square. There are a few cubby holes, on the left hand side, and this is one of them. There’ll be books outside, and a green sign above the window – and I’ve just this moment blanked on the name! It’s often staffed by a beautiful woman who speaks faultless English, Ayesegul (as in Ayesha-gul). You never know what might turn up there. An alternative is Kayseri Books, at the Blue Mosque end of Divan Yolu, which has by contrast a large plate glass window and plenty of space inside and is run by Ali and his sons: Ali is the most ambitious bookseller I’ve ever known. His stuff is all new. Whenever I go in, he declares himself to be the world’s biggest seller of Yashim novels. ‘Ten thousand! In one year!’ Then he pushes me towards a sumptious photographic book by Ahmet Ertug, a snip at $350 or whatever. Have fun.
Keep writing. I’m on my second re-reading – I need NEW adventures!
Point taken! But you’ll need to get up a petition, I’m afraid: I write as fast as I can – and then do something foolish like making New Year’s Resolutions, to find I can’t do a thing all day.
where are you? Come out,come out where ever you are. (Or isn’t that what the English hide-and-seek players say?}
Who is your publisher? I’ll write a letter.
patti
Jason, what and when is your next book?
Thanks for asking, Michael, I have a small raft of books on the slips – but the very next one is The Latin Reader, a potentially final Istanbul adventure with Yashim the investigator. It should be out this Summer.
Beyond that, I have a sort of cooking novel, set in 1860s London; a Civil War (Roundheads v Cavaliers) story, set near my home in Dorset; an Istanbul book, non-fiction; and a really, really tense airport style thriller which I mean to issue under a pseudonym I have always wanted to use: Benzine McCullum. It’s just a question of getting down to any one of them….!
best
Jason
Thanks Jason. I look forward to your new endeavours. BTW, isn’t a cooking book set in London in the 1860′s something of an oxymoron? (:>)
Ha ha: and maybe that’s why it’s rather slow going on that one…!
I can’t wait for the non-fiction book about Istanbul! If it’s anything like ‘Lords of the Horizons’, it will be pretty special. Good luck! Regards, Will
Thank you, Will!
Dear Jason, I love reading your books and your descriptions of Istanbul, I lived there for several years and worked in the British Consulate General as a nurse.Over that time were many joys and some tragic events including the earthquake of 1999 and the bombing of the consulate 1 year after we all left for NZ .Your stories really keep me in the real and wonderful world of a city which will forever be in my heart. I hope you keep writing on this remarkable time in history too .I love Ottoman history art cooking and culture. My oldest daughter now 13 is an Istanbullu I will be starting her off on your stories soon! Much praise for recreating the Istanbul I am familiar with and all the best– Annie
Thank you, Annie: sounds like you had the best and the worst the city could come up with. all best wishes, Jason
Just read my first Goodwin novel, The janissary tree – My favorite passage? the soup sellers observation that goes something like this -”you make the same soup for a long time and then you decide to add cardamon – some like it, some don’t and most don’t care – After awhile you add beans with the same results – As time goes on nobody remembers what the original soup tasted like – Seems to be a allegory on the changes in societal behavior over the past few decades. Very few have been around long enough to even remember what the soup was like to begin with
Dear Mr Goodwin,
Your book LORDS OF THE HORIZONS is indeed most interesting and very well written. It is a very detailed history of the Ottoman Empire. I have read the 1998 paperback edition, so I don’t know if you made some corrections in the next editions. Nevetheless, I would like to point out a couple of errors: On page 55, footnote, you explain that Istanbul may be a contraction of the Greek “is tin polis”. The correct is “is tin POLIN”. On page 91 you state that the empire was a land of mountains:…,” Mount Olympus on the Peloponnese”. This is an important mistake, because Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek Gods is on THE GREEK MAINLAND, between Larissa and Thessaloniki.
With best regards
Dear Chloe,
Thank you so very much for those observations: timeo danaos et dona ferentes…. I’m not convinced about the contraction of ‘is tin polin’ (thank you) – are you? It seems an odd way to find a name for a big city. Of course the Ottomans always called it Constantinople. As for Olympos, Λυπάμαι! To think I have actually seen it.
best wishes,
Jason
I would like to know whether the novels had been translated into German!!!!
Thank you
Absolutely. Into Icelandic, Albanian and Korean too, among the forty odd translations worldwide! The publisher is Piper Verlag: Die Weissheit des Eunuchens (rotten title), Der Antiquar von Constantinopel, usw. I hope you find them and do feel free to comment on the translation: I’d be very interested.
I’ve just finished all four Yashim books, and am planning on Lords of the Horizons. But I’ve got a (not serious) problem: I “read” the books via audiobook, which means I don’t know how to spell anything in the books, and so can’t look them up when I want to learn more about Istanbul! I’m assuming that the “Besiktas” palace featured in Evil Eye is the Dolmabahce Palace. But how do I spell “cayeek”? I want to see what one looks like. Thanks for a wonderful introduction to the Ottoman world.
Thanks for the kind comments, Bruce. Unusual problem – but yes, the palace at Besiktas stood very near the Dolmabahce Palace but was an earlier building, also in a fundamentally European style. It was demolished to make way for the Dolmabahce in, I think, 1843. As for the caiques, the gondolas of Istanbul, run a search on Ottoman caiques – there are some really lovely illustrations out there. So very few survive.Thanks for getting in touch.
Dear Mr Goodwin: I was in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar last weekend (I live and work in Doha) and there in the 3rd floor gallery, tucked away behind a suit of armor was the BELLINI CARD! There he was, Mehmet II looking at the viewer over his left shoulder, a gorgeously detailed shoulder by G Bellini. It was an exciting moment for me!
If you ever come to Doha, be sure to go see this portrait. I am glad it is not at the bottom of the Grand Canal.
Best,
Betsy Crook
Hello, Jason. I have a question for you: why did you write the Bellini Card?
Perhaps you don’t agree, but I thought the story too good to keep to myself!
In your short movie “Yashim’s Istanbul” you make a passing reference to “[your] favourite bookshop in Istanbul” — but if you named the shop, I missed it. Can you help a fellow bibliophile (who plans to visit Istanbul in October) by providing more details? Thank you…
Yes: it’s in the Book Bazaar, in the narrow passage that leads from the Grand Bazaar entrance on bayezit square. There are a few cubby holes, on the left hand side, and this is one of them. There’ll be books outside, and a green sign above the window – and I’ve just this moment blanked on the name! It’s often staffed by a beautiful woman who speaks faultless English, Ayesegul (as in Ayesha-gul). You never know what might turn up there. An alternative is Kayseri Books, at the Blue Mosque end of Divan Yolu, which has by contrast a large plate glass window and plenty of space inside and is run by Ali and his sons: Ali is the most ambitious bookseller I’ve ever known. His stuff is all new. Whenever I go in, he declares himself to be the world’s biggest seller of Yashim novels. ‘Ten thousand! In one year!’ Then he pushes me towards a sumptious photographic book by Ahmet Ertug, a snip at $350 or whatever. Have fun.