Jason Goodwin is a novelist, historian and traveller, winner of the JLR/Mail on Sunday Prize for On Foot to the Golden Horn, and of the Edgar Award for Best Novel his first Yashim mystery, The Janissary Tree.
His books include: The Gunpowder Gardens: Travels in China and India in Search of Tea and Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire (‘perhaps the most readable history ever written about anything’: Time Out). His latest history is Greenback: The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America.
The Janissary Tree became an international bestseller. The fourth book in the series, An Evil Eye, was published in 2011 to critical acclaim, and The Baklava Club will be published on June 5th in the US and the UK. It will premiere, however, in Estonian in May. His books are translated into over forty languages. He lives in Dorset with his wife Kate and their four children.
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The Sand Reckoner’s Diagram is even more remarkable if you tile the plane with it. I don’t know how to post an attachment here, so I have posted a pdf print at http://winter.webfactional.com/SandReckonersDiagram.pdf, plus a copy of the Microsoft Visio file at http://winter.webfactional.com/SandReckonersDiagram.vsd if anybody wants to play with the pattern further.
Thank you for posting the link here: the diagram is used by the Contessa for fencing in THE BELLINI CARD, but of course it’s fun to muse on it peacably too.
What??????? !!!!!!!!!!! No more Yashim????? I have him filed right after Furst and before Conan Doyle;and dedicated at least 6″ of new library shelving for him.Bah humbug!!!!!! Now what to read in my dotage????
Thank you! If you can cling on until June, there is THE BAKLAVA CLUB…! A good inch and a half, I’d have thought?
I found the movie – will there be another Yashim story?
Absolutely – there will be THE BAKLAVA CLUB, which comes out in June. I’m so glad you found the movie – I think maybe I need to spring clean the website somehow: it’s like a crazy old house that has come together in different epochs, leaving it with curious old stairways and uneven landings and unexpected windows… Thanks for getting in touch!
Jason
The Sand Reckoner’s Diagram also caught my attention.
http://pergelator.blogspot.com/search?q=Sand+Reckoner
Have you collected your recipes together somewhere?
Not yet, Gerry: but it’s a great project which I’d like to undertake! We have been talking about a Yashim cookbook – with Palewski’s beef and sorrel sauce, and contributions from other characters, too, alongside Yashim’s own peerless Ottoman creations. I will keep everyone posted here. best, Jason
I am going to Istanbul all because of Yashim….how can we do without him???? For heaven’s sake don’t kill him off, just in case he won’t let you alone and you decide to perhaps…such nice writing, have read the walk book and loved it and Lords of the Horizon many years ago and fell in love with things Turkish (as well as Bosnian by the way, especially Sarajevo even now). Many thanks!
Thank you, Suzanne – that makes me very proud (I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but I do hope you’ll enjoy The Baklava Club). How great that you’re going to Istanbul: I’m told it has been voted the world’s favourite destination, so I advise booking ahead! And may you gave a wonderful trip. Best wishes, Jason
Hi Jason, what are the contact details of your agent? It’s urgent.
Sarah Chalfant at The Wylie Agency in London and NYC.
Hi, Jason in honor of The Baklava Club coming out today, I made a bulghur pilaf that Yashim would be proud of. Lots of veggies and chicken cooked with lentils, toasted orzo cooked in chicken broth seasoned with spices.
Maybe Yashim should be coming round to share!
Hello Jason, im wondering when de translated version of The Baklava Club is coming out in dutch, because i can’t find it anywhere.
Hi Ellen, I’m afraid – don’t hold your breath! You had better read it in English because I am not sure what the publishing situation in the Netherlands is at the moment. best Jason
Dear Jason, you’re a wonderful writer and I love your marvelous tales of Istanbul. Your characters are lively, Yashim is a wonderful hero,you write women well, and I promise you I actually know Palewski in real life. With thanks and all best wishes, Kathleen
Thank you, Kathleen: it’s always good to hear that Palewski is alive and kicking out there! all best, Jason
Hi Jason. I’m writing to say that it struck me as I was reading The Snake Stone (now, finishing The Bellini Card) that your portrayal of the Greeks of Istanbul is spot on- tender, mildly ironic, insightful and thoroughly researched. You bring to life a chapter of Greek history that unfortunately is still difficult for the Greeks themselves to describe without ambivalent sentiments. This brilliant period of co-existence of ‘tribes’ in one magnificent city is forever tainted in their conscience by the events and bloodshed that followed in Smyrna and beyond. As a Greek who read ancient history at Cambridge to escape my own conditioning (what a relief to revisit the ancient Greeks without the weight of ‘glorious heritage’ on my shoulders) I really thank you for a great job. And yes, do please publish a book of recipes to accompany Yashim’s life and times. Many will be forever grateful! Warm wishes, isadora
Thank you for getting in touch, and for your kind comments. It was such an interesting time, and the issues that surrounded Greek independence were so complex: I tried to see them from an Ottoman point of view in my history, Lords of the Horizons. Whatever happens, Greeks always bring curiosity and vivacity to any situation. And the tragedy of Smyrna and beyond belongs to another age, as you observe. Thank you. Jason
Jason captures the events and moods of rhe time with accuracy and feeling. but let’s acknowledge the fact that the actual history of the Ottoman Empire in Yashim’s time andshortly after was not only tragic but complicated. The different ethnic groups Turk, Greek, Armenian, Kurd and Jew (not to mention many others) in this multicultural and vast empire were ALL victims of their time. Otherempires, the Austro-Hungarian and German were also destroyed. The British and French Empires profited briefly but these victories sewed the seeds of their eventual demise. Some of the echoes of those times are still heard today