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The Architect`s Apprentice

The Architect`s Apprentice is a dazzling and intricate tale from Elif Shafak, bestselling author of The Bastard of Istanbul. `There were six of us: the master, the apprentices and the white elephant. We built everything together…` Sixteenth century Istanbul: a stowaway arrives in the city bearing an extraordinary gift for the Sultan. The boy is utterly alone in a foreign land, with no worldly possessions to his name except Chota, a rare white elephant destined for the palace menagerie. So begins an epic adventure that will see young Jahan rise from lowly origins to the highest ranks of the Sultan`s court. Along the way he will meet deceitful courtiers and false friends, gypsies, animal tamers, and the beautiful, mischievous Princess Mihrimah. He will journey on Chota`s back to the furthest corners of the Sultan`s kingdom and back again. And one day he will catch the eye of the royal architect, Sinan, a chance encounter destined to change Jahan`s fortunes forever.Filled with all the colour of the Ottoman Empire, when Istanbul was the teeming centre of civilisation, The Architect`s Apprentice is a magical, sweeping tale of one boy and his elephant caught up in a world of wonder and danger. “A gorgeous picture of a city teeming with secrets, intrigue and romance.” (The Times). “Shafak`s most ambitious novel yet her best – generous and imaginative.” (Independent). “Exuberant, epic and comic, fantastical and realistic…like all good stories it conveys deeper meanings about human experience.” (Financial Times). “Fascinating. A vigorous evocation of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power.” (Sunday Times). “Intricate, multi-layered, resplendent, vividly evoked, beautifully written.” (Observer). “Sumptuous, absorbing, moving.” (Independent on Sunday).

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