"Set in the ancient city of Smyrna, this powerful novel follows the intertwining fates of four families as their peaceful city is ripped apart by the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

On an orange-tinted evening in September 1905, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother in the ancient city of Smyrna. At the very same moment, a dashing Indian spy arrives in the harbour with a secret mission from the British Empire. He sails in to golden-hued spires and minarets, scents of fig and sycamore, and the cries of street hawkers selling their wares. When he leaves, seventeen years later, it will be to the heavy smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames."

Firstly, I have to say that this is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. I'm not typically drawn to historical fiction, but this sounded too good to pass!

I adored how this book had all these different characters whose lives intertwined at some point in the story. From the vivid descriptions of Smyrna, to the details of each characters' life, the story hooked me right from the start. There is something so unique about the way that history is told through the pages, that made this to be a very compelling read. During some chapters I had to stop and take a breath because there was so much beauty delivered only through a few words that blew my mind. I felt so many emotions while reading this!

The ending was so well-written. I was actually surprised by that twist in the middle, and as I connected the timelines, everything started making sense. This was such a unique and fascinating read. I'd highly recommend it if you're searching for a tale that spans years of history and heartbreak and doesn't let your eyes wander away from the page. What a great read!

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this beautiful arc!

The Silence of Scheherazade is the epic story of the fall of the Ottoman Empire in cosmopolitan Smyrna, now Izmir, after the Greek occupation following WWI. I loved the richly poetic language, the vivid personalities and the fascinating glimpse into the lives and cultures of Greek, Armenian, Levantine and Turkish families. The city of Smyrna is almost another character and I felt its destruction as a tragedy.

It’s a complicated and very long story told from several points of view in different families and covers a period from 1905 to WWII. On the down side, although the writing is beautiful, I only give it four stars because the story was confusing at times. Perhaps I wouldn’t have found this a problem if I’d known anything about the history of Smyrna. The pace dragged three quarters of the way through but it picked up again near the end.

Despite the slight technical problems with the plot, The Silence of Scheherazade made a huge impression on me. When I finished it, I came out of the book blinking in the light, feeling as if I had actually been there in Smyrna. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time.

The Silence of Scheherazade captured the Turkish experience so well. Being a Turkish reader myself, the book was so entertaining to see parts of my culture & of course all that came with it. Will recommend it to my friends.

The Silence of Scheherazade is a story narrated by a woman found passed out, burnt, covered in ashes, in the garden of a Turkish colonel in Smyrna. She is beautiful and silent. She brings with her unspoken stories of her past, of her people’s past, of her city’s past. Her saviours call her Scheherazade.
At Scheherazade’s birth, Smyrna, an ancient cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire, filled with people of different heritages, Greek, Levantine, Turkish, Armenian, French, British, American and Indian, is about to undergo huge change as the power of the Ottoman Empire wanes and European forces fight over the spoils. Scheherazade’s story follows the shifts in power, dipping in and out of different families and peoples, exploring her own heritage and that of her city.
Unlocking her personal history gives voice to the silent masses who died in the war for supremacy over Smyrna. Defne Suman quotes J. M. Coetzee at the beginning of the novel: ‘Many stories can be told of Friday’s tongue, but the true story is buried within Friday, who is mute. The true story will not be heard till by art we have found a means of giving voice to Friday.’ The Silence of Scheherazade is her way of giving Friday a voice.
The story and the writing are rich and rewarding. There are passages, particularly towards the end during the desperate battles in Smyrna, that are exquisitely beautiful. There is a lot of history and heartache to absorb. It brings that part of the world to life.
Despite my admiration for the novel, The Silence of Scheherazade didn’t fully win me over. It felt more like an account built to teach me history rather than a story in which I was fully immersed, but this is certainly only my experience and I have no doubt that this will be a much read and loved novel that has huge amounts to offer a wide readership. You’ll know if this sounds like your kind of novel.

Initially, I loved this book. The writing was delightful.

However, I think this is a book that should be read in hard copy, as on Kindle it became rather hard to follow. As it went on, I got confused by what was happening when. Perhaps this was a fault of the editing, or even meant that there should have been clear date references in the chapter headings.

That said, the descriptions were vivid and the writing engaging. All it lacked was a little clarity.

This is a well written book. The author, Defne Suman tells the story from multiple points of views spanning from roughly 1905 to later on WW2. and includes the fall of the Ottoman Empire with its constant battles. The cultural differences are brought alive by the poetic language describing the rising sights, sounds, hearts and idiosyncratic lives of this magical city.
Delightful read. Thank you to NetGalley and Heads of Zeus for an early copy.

An epic read telling the great tragedy that befell Smyrna following the First World War. Smyrna was an ancient and multicultural hub of the Ottoman Empire, and at the start of the tale it is a city bustling with life and beauty, full of Levantine Europeans, Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Turkish, British and French communities, amongst many others. Some of the central characters are Edith and her mother Juliette Lamarck, whose family have lived in Smyrna since the 1700s and occupy a french colonial mansion in Bournabat; Avinash Pillai, an Indian Spy for the British Empire; Panagiota, a young girl from the Greek community full of dreams; and Scheherazade, a mute woman living in a Turkish household much later on in time, after Smyrna has become Izmir. One thing I liked about the novel was the various very different strands of characters from different communities, who were all more closely connected than we may have initially imagined. They showed the diversity of Smyrna and the events from different angles.

The fall of Smyrna following the Greek Occupation after World War 1 was not something that I knew much about, but the events recounted in the novel were horrendous and this book does such a good job with this sensitive subject matter. The writing is evocative of a rich texture of smells, sights, and tastes throughout and is wonderfully atmospheric, so definitely one of the triumphs of the novel and a reason to read it! I did struggle with some clunky language at the outset and it took me a while to become invested, but then it really began to shine. This is a translated novel from Turkish.

I would recommend this for fans of The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper, as this reminded me a little bit of that from strong female characters and difficult historical situations.

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, Head of Zeus, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

On an orange-tinted evening in September 1905, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother in the ancient city of Smyrna. At the very same moment, a dashing Indian spy arrives in the harbour with a secret mission from the British Empire. He sails in to golden-hued spires and minarets, scents of fig and sycamore, and the cries of street hawkers selling their wares. When he leaves, seventeen years later, it will be to the heavy smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames.

But let us not rush, for much will happen between then and now. Birth, death, romance and grief are all to come as these peaceful, cosmopolitan streets are used as bargaining chips in the wake of the First World War.

Told through the intertwining fates of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family, this unforgettable novel reveals a city, and a culture, now lost to time.

What a wonderful book historical and centered around Turkey so took you deep in to the country and it’s Cultures. The characters were a plenty but believable.
Trigger warnings in the book death , murder, rape, racism to name a few.

This is an educational, disturbing and very engaging novel set in Asia Minor in the first part of the 20th century. The author is new to me but so also are the horrendous historical events depicted in the book. I knew very little indeed about the fairly recent history of this part of the world and am certainly now moved to read and find out more.
The reader is told the story from several different points of view with no one side being privileged. While granting access to the harrowing history of Smyrna at the end of the Ottoman Empire the author also tells a compelling tale of chosen and changed identities, particularly through the eyes of Edith Lamarck (a proudly independent Levantine woman of French origin) and Panagiotta, a young Greek girl.
As a story I found these two characters convincing as each in her own way struggled with the paths their lives were meant to take. As a piece of historical fiction I think the author did a superb job of presenting developing events through their eyes.
Many of the scenes in the book are almost televisual in the telling, eg the contrasting scenes of joy at the arrival of the Turkish army and the awful scenes at the harbour as people desperately try to flee the burning city.
I did find the shifting timeline confusing at times but not to the extent that it interrupted my reading.
Thank you to the publisher via Net Galley for sending me a complimentary ARC of this title in return for an honest review.

I knew very little about this subject and found it very interesting.It’s set in Smyrna,(now Izmir) in Turkey between 1905 and the present and tells the story of four families ,Greek,Turkish,Levantine and Armenian, all linked by the woman known as Scheherazade.The historical events are at times difficult to follow for readers who are unfamiliar with the circumstances that led to the destruction of the city ,but I was impressed with the balanced way the author presented the facts.
It’s well written , and very evocative of the sights, sounds and smells of the city ,full of detail about food, clothes and places. It’s a translated book, so there are times when the flow of the language isn’t quite right,but that’s a minor concern. The narrative switches from first to third person and from the point of view of the different families .which is sometimes confusing ,but I did want to keep reading .
The horror of what happened when Ataturk’s army came to the city is fully described and sometimes difficult to read; I felt there were many similarities with current events in the Middle East as people try to escape from war-torn countries ,which made the descriptions all the more realistic.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

I could to get into this at all. There were pages of descriptions to get through at the expense of story and character development. I gave up very early on, especially when I saw how long it was.

Suman has created such an evocative, epic novel here that I barely know how to summarise my thoughts. I’ve only just finished reading and my mind is still reeling! I think it must be the inextricably linked amalgamation of cultures that ultimately sold this novel to me. The various perspectives are authentic and empathetic (though I agree with other reviews that certain aspects have been lost in translation, but this often goes with the territory…), and Suman’s rich narrative, with that perfect balance of fiction and history, swept me along.

I would definitely recommend the volume, especially to any fans of Elif Shafak (such as myself!), and I must thank NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the absolute privilege!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really unique piece of historical fiction, which follows the intertwined stories of people living in Smyrna leading up to World War 1. I don't think I've ever read anything in a similar setting, so I was pretty stoked going into this.

Unfortunately, I did find the writing style a bit off putting. The language was beautiful, filled with vivid atmosphere, but from a technical standpoint it was lacking. I try not to be so pretentious that I let poor technique out weigh a good story, but I actually found this a bit hard to read. For example, a lot of the dialogue wasn't attributed to a speaker, creating a strong sense of talking head syndrome. This is possibly an issue with the translation, but it pulled me out of the story.

Captivating. evocative and richly told. This is a beautifully written book which transports you to Smyrna of 1905, and it really conjures to life the sights and scents in your mind - I found this totally immersive and an afascinating glimpse into a history I knew nothing of, before now.

3.5 Stars

This is the story of Scheherazade and her once beloved city of Smyrna, during a time in history that seems to have been forgotten. The story centers on several key characters who at the beginning seem unconnected to each other. The first half of the book evolves slowly, building the complexity of each character. With beautifully written descriptions, the author brings the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna to life: the fragrant smells, the vibrant people, the winding neighborhoods, and the quay where so much of the city’s life and then death took place.

The pacing is slower in the first part of the book and the translation seems to waver at some points. But half way through, the book finds its stride as the stories of the individuals we’ve been following begin to converge and their relationships become clear. With a brilliant plot twist, all that has been foreshadowed, all the details that have been carefully planted by the author, the pieces of Scheherazade’s tale fall into place. The pace quickens as the horrific events of September 1922 unfold into a dramatic and heartbreaking climax.

The chapters are not in chronological order and this worked well in the telling of this story. It feels as if Scheherazade is indeed telling us her tale, keeping us turning the pages. The final imagery of the burning city, of the lost souls of an ancient people expelled from their homes, is a chilling reminder to never forget the horrors of what happened in Smyrna in 1922.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for this ARC.

This was just way to prosey for me. I can't stand when stories spend all their time describing settings and details. When a book goes on and on for pages about talking about a guy standing on a ship deck looking at the harbour I know it's not for me. Thanks anyway Netgalley!

This family saga and historical fiction novel about the ottoman empire focuses on a time and place that has since been forgotten but it’s worth revisiting. I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book provides a window into what is perhaps one of the twentieth century's lesser known tragedies, the destruction of the ancient city of Smyrna along with its complex cultural mix, another casualty of the Great War. The story is told through a multitude of characters from all segments of this society, one in first person (the title character, a foundling who has chosen silence in life, but tells us her story) and the others in third person. The premise was fantastic, the culture and history fascinating, the writing (in translation) respectable though sometimes a bit over-full of cliches, but overall I struggled with the confusing switches of time period, point of view, and narrative origin (some stories seem to be retold by Scheherezade from stories she has been told; this is one of those books where you will never know quite what is "real" and what is made up). I think some clarifying edits would have strengthened the book and made a better reading experience. But it's worth reading for its unique take on an overlooked place and time.

A beautiful gripping saga of the small town of Smyrna in Asia Minor. As the great grand-daughter of someone who died in Asia Minor during the 1921 Armenian Holocaust, this book had great personal meaning for me. Some authors who I've read who write details of the horrific violence and difficulties faced by the Greeks and Armenians who lived in the Ottoman Empire during that time easily get bogged down in the details, confusing the reader (it IS mind-boggling, all the dates, who lived where, when, etc). The story of the silent girl who has lived through horrific times is tenderly told, and through the eyes of Avinesh, Panagiota, and Edith, we get to view an intimate perspective of a little understood time in the early 20th century. I'm grateful that these stories are being told now, especially after President Biden acknowledged the Armenian genocide this past year, validating the experience of so many millions around the world. Highly recommended.

Really enjoyed this book! It was the first one for me to read by this author and I can't wait to read more! The characters stick with you long after the book is over.