Book Review: The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman

 

⋆⋆⋆½

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: death, murder, rape, sexual assault, suicide, racism, abuse, fire. 

Scheherazade is born one dark September night in the city of Smyrna. It's 1905, and her mother, through the haze of an opium fog, is about to bring her into this world; meanwhile, an Indian spy working for the British Empire arrives on Smyrna's shores. What none of them can know at this moment is that the coming years will draw them into a complicated web of deception, love and tragedy with four other families scattered across the city.

What intrigued me most about this book, aside from its beautiful cover, was the fact that the author herself was Turkish. I haven't read many books either in or about Turkey, and it immediately caught my eye. While I wasn't all that familiar with the political machinations going on in the Ottoman Empire at the time, it sounded like it would be an exciting and interesting romp.

The first few chapters are a little slow, but once the story picks up -- well, it really picks up. There is a large ensemble of characters, ranging from the Levantine French Edith Lamarck, Armenian Midwife Meline, to the aforementioned Indian spy Avinash Pillai. As someone who loves large, complex casts of characters, I found it thrilling to jump to so many different points of view. 

Suman does an excellent job of delving into all the different cultures at play in this book, and doesn't get trapped by the pitfalls of portraying one side as righteous or just while the other is nothing but evil. Instead, she creates nuances, allows us to see this world from all perspectives, and because of this black-and-gray worldview, creates realism and authenticity. The historical and political aspects are endlessly fascinating.

I did find the chronology confusing, however. There was a lot of jumping forward and back, with no real clear timeline until a character mentions a year has passed or that we're back in, say, a character's fifteenth year as opposed to their seventeenth. There's also the fact that in spite of what I mentioned above about loving huge casts, it sometimes felt a little too big. There's tons of mildly important side characters to remember, too, and it can be a touch overwhelming! 

I have a feeling, however, that once this has the final touches put on it, it'll become a favorite of many. Suman's writing has depth and complexity, gorgeous turns-of-phrase, and the characters are both lovable and deeply flawed. If you're a lover of historical fiction, and tired of reading about Regency balls or WWII, I highly recommend you pick this up!