Last Letter from Istanbul: Escape with this epic holiday read of secrets and forbidden love

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For the complex and touchy themes (atrocities of war, occupation, death, racism, gender, abandonment, aging) in this book, you would think it would evoke a lot of feeling in a reader. But I didn’t find I connected with any of the characters. And because I was not initially connected, I found I couldn’t really care about their plights.

This is a story of Istanbul/Constantinople in 1921 during the Allied Occupation. A sad, but beautiful ode to the people who claimed it as their own, and those who occupied it after the war. It is about a young teacher who saved one of her Armenian pupils from genocide, took care of her elderly grandmother and mother, and learnt the hard truths of what war really was from all sides. She had to come to terms with some truths that was hard to stomach...and forgive. Before the war Nur lived a happy and very comfortable existence in a beautiful mansion, a place where she had a wonderful upbringing with warm childhood memories. But following the war and the occupation of her beloved city, all that changed as her home fell under the authority of the British Army and was transformed into a hospital.The most precious thing in Nur’s new life is the orphan in her care a boy with a terrible secret. When he falls dangerously ill Nur’s world becomes entwined with the enemy’s. She must return to where she grew up, and plead for help from Medical Officer George Monroe. Weitere Personen sind der in den Krieg gezogene Bruder und ein verwaister Junge, der in Nurs neuem Heim Unterschlupf gefunden hat und um den sie sich rührend kümmert. When your group has read the book, we’d love to hear what you think. Tweet us at @HarperFiction and @W6BookCafe using #LastLetter.

The descriptions of the city are raw yet lyrical, the descriptions of war brutal yet brilliantly evocative and detailed. Hard to read in parts due to the obvious reality of it all.Men are are capable of some awful things. The characters, as varied as a small Turkish boy and a Scottish doctor make this a rich tapestry of a historical read.

This item contains adult content

Pg 25 'Sometimes, now, the old life seems as remote as one read about in a book. But this afternoon it seems very close at hand, an assault of memory.' On one of these secret visits Nur is discovered by Dr George Monroe, a medical officer in the British army and to Nur, a sworn enemy. This is not to be their first encounter and as a reader we witness how their tentative but very delicate relationship develops over a period of time. I enjoy this author's books so much, that I've read three of them in a short period of time. This was the second one and once again an excellent book. Historical fiction with an enticing love element thrown in to keep the romance junkies - or rather, historical romance junkies, close to the story. Lucy Foley writes women fiction. Her work is characterized by women's suffering and well developed male characters. The main theme of her books are the promotion of love without marriage, of single-women independence, without the bondage of marriage. Love is always challenging and relationships is never guaranteed a happy ending. What IS happiness after all, right? In terms of characters, I didn’t really feel like any of them were very fleshed out. I didn’t feel invested in their lives and found them all to be forgettable. I felt totally apathetic towards them all. When Nur chances upon George Monroe, a medical officer in the British Army, it is easy to hate him. Yet the lines between enemy and friend grow fainter.