The Fourth Queen: A Novel [Paperback]

Debbie Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

A lush historical epic, The Fourth Queen is the story of one woman’s struggle for power and love in the court of the eighteenth-century Emperor of Morocco. Poetically intense and sensual, it marks the debut of a gifted new author.

Beautiful Helen Gloag is determined to escape the cycle of poverty and early death that has destroyed so many women in her native Scotland. Barely out of her teens, she flees her hometown and sets sail for the Colonies on a ship bound for Boston. But the ship falls prey to a band of corsairs—pirates from the Barbary coast of Africa. Helen is taken captive and sent to a procuress in Morocco, where women are sold into the slave markets of the nobility. In the procuress’s house, she is discovered by the witty, soft-hearted dwarf Microphilus, who oversees the Harem of the Emperor himself. Knowing her red hair and milky skin will enthrall his master, he takes her to Marrakech, and the imperial palace.

The Harem of the Emperor is a mysterious, voluptuous, and forbidding place, a hive of dangerous political tensions and unlikely friendships. Microphilus, himself a Scot captured by pirates as a young man, has found his fortune in the Emperor’s Harem, where he serves the Queens, including the charismatic, amazonian African empress Batoom, who is his lover. With Microphilus’s help, Helen learns to negotiate the politics of the Harem and compete for the Emperor’s favor.

Cast into the luxurious but sinister world of the Harem, Helen is at first terrified of the godlike and often cruel Emperor, but she soon becomes his favorite. Eventually, out of all the Harem women, she is chosen to become his fourth wife—the greatest of honors, since the Emperor may have hundreds of concubines but only four official wives. With her marriage, however, comes the greatest danger. Helen’s predecessor, the other “White Queen,” has succumbed to a mysterious, disfiguring illness and is slowly wasting away. Poison is the most likely cause, and Microphilus knows that Helen is destined to be the next victim.

In the Harem, hundreds of women are vying to be one of the four queens, thus setting the scene for the tragic power struggle and love story that ensue.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inspired by true stories of 18th-century kidnappings, debut novelist Taylor produces an imaginative and bawdy romp through the harem of the emperor of Morocco. Young Helen Gloag, bound from Scotland to the colonies in 1769, is captured by pirates and brought to the slave markets of Tangiers. There, she is purchased for the emperor's harem by the dwarf Microphilus, who procures and manages the hundreds of women selected as royal chattel. Instantly smitten with Helen's pale skin and red hair, Microphilus conceals his passion for her as she learns to make her way in the languorous-and competitive-world of the harem. Initially at a loss in terms of language and culture, she is dismissed by the emperor; under the tutelage of Queen Batoom (the first of the emperor's four wives), she eventually charms him and is soon his favorite. But with favoritism comes danger: one of the other queens has succumbed to a mysterious wasting illness, and when Helen is chosen as the emperor's fourth wife, it appears that she is also doomed. Instrumental in unraveling the mystery is Microphilus, who-having long been Queen Batoom's secret lover-eventually becomes close to Helen as well, as the two take comfort in remembering their shared homeland. Alternating between third-person sections from Helen's perspective and entries in Microphilus's diary, Taylor conjures up the shimmering exoticism of the emperor's court. Most notable is the concentration on fleshy exuberance (the emperor's women must be fat, and nearly all of them, including Helen, become giddy with sex in their forced idleness). Amid all the rolling rumps and alliterative saucy sex talk, Taylor manages to tell a highly unusual and satisfying love story.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

First-novelist Taylor has crafted a foray into eighteenth-century Morocco full of intriguing characters. Helen Gloag escapes her dire life in Scotland aboard a ship bound for the American colonies, but she is confronted with an uncertain destiny when the barge is accosted by a band of violent pirates thirsty for riches and bloodshed. Helen's copper hair and fair skin earmark her for the slave trade, and she is sold to a gentlemanly dwarf named Microphilus, who is keeper of the Moroccan emperor's harem. Helen's ethereal beauty catches the eye of the insatiable emperor and that of the kindly Scottish dwarf responsible for acquiring the fire-haired beauty. After a precarious initial meeting, the emperor becomes enamored of Helen, now known as Aziza, and names her his fourth queen. The women of the harem are cruel and catty, viciously vying for the emperor's attentions, and Helen's life, despite her new lofty position, is in imminent danger. Taylor's spellbinding flair for storytelling is heady with spicy erotica. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400053765
• ISBN-13: 978-1400053766
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,236,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Historical Novel, March 26, 2004

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Fourth Queen: A Novel (Hardcover)

THE FOURTH QUEEN by Debbie Taylor
Courtesy of www.Loveromances.com

Debbie Taylor's THE FOURTH QUEEN takes the reader into the world of the harems of Morocco, where a young Scottish girl has been kidnapped and taken to live with thousands of other women to be the playthings of the Emperor. Comparable to Dora Levy Mossanen's HAREM, THE FOURTH QUEEN takes a young woman from a culture outside that of Middle Eastern heritage, and places her into a foreign world full of strange foods, colors, music, and values. But, while HAREM was filled with magical deeds and other wonderful things akin to fairy tales, THE FOURTH QUEEN is rooted in reality. Both books share a wealth of knowledge of this time and place in history, a world vastly different from that descended from the culture of Western Europe.

It is the mid-1700's, and young Helen Gloag is on a ship headed towards the New World. She is looking for a new life away from Scotland and a life of poverty that she wanted desperately to escape. As the ship is headed toward its destination, it is attacked by pirates and she, along with many of the women, are taken to Morocco to be sold.

Helen's life takes on a strange turn. She is now ensconced in the life of the harem, one of thousands of women that are vying for the attention of the Emperor of Morocco. Only four lucky women are chosen as queens, and while at first Helen finds her new life horrid and unbearable, she soon learns the ways of this culture, and aspires to be one of the lucky four. She gains weight to be more of a prize catch, as large women are considered beautiful, while thin women are considered undesirable. She learns how to apply makeup in a much different way than is done in her native land of Scotland. No more corsets. The larger the stomach and buttocks, the more appealing she will be to the opposite sex. Helen is slowly transformed into a woman that belongs in Morocco, no longer recognizable as that young Scottish girl, even taking on a new name Aziza.

Along her journey to this highest of positions, she befriends one of the queens, Batoom, known as the Black Queen, who takes Helen under her wing. Helen also meets the head Eunuch, Fijil, a Scottish dwarf who was captured many years ago and is now one of the most notable men working under the Emperor. Fijil finds himself in love with the lovely Helen, but he knows that his fate will never allow him to capture the love of this Scottish lass. He hides his feelings for her as best he can, becoming one of the best friends Helen could possibly have in this new world of hers. Helen's only goal at this time is to become a queen, and she cannot see past the jewels and the wealth that would go with that title.

A wonderful tale of love, greed, and power, THE FOURTH QUEEN was a book that at first did not catch this reviewer's interest. But, as one continues with each chapter, it is easy to succumb to the charms of this story. Debbie Taylor did an excellent job with highly descriptive particulars on what life in a harem was like. She interspersed her story with the erotic passions that came with living in a harem. She wove highly illustrative details of the foods that were enjoyed by Helen, so that the reader could imagine tasting and eating them. One could feel the heat that bore down on Helen day in and day out, and could imagine the life that she led with the emperor, with whom she was consumed with a desire so strong that she could see nothing else.

The fascinating aspect of this book is that THE FOURTH QUEEN was based on a person straight from history. Helen Gloag did exist, as did Fijil and the Emperor. History shows that there were indeed several Empresses of Morocco with red hair. Taylor took the liberties to write a story with these characters, and although they may not have co-existed in the same time period, Taylor did a good job making this story work. It has truly ignited in this reviewer an already burgeoning interest in the world of the ancient Ottoman Empire. This book is highly recommended to lovers of historical fiction everywhere.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but flawed, June 16, 2006

By 

Paige Anderson "Brit lit teacher and history ... (Pensacola, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fourth Queen: A Novel (Paperback)

Pros: Unlike many novels in which the plot is centered around a European woman kidnapped into a harem, the heroine Helen doesn't automatically entrance the Emperor of Moracco. Instead she is repulsed by him and by the mounds of fat females surrounding her. The politics of the harem, with the jockeying for the Emperor's eye and the importance of bearing sons seems real. The sections written from Helen's point of view are interesting and for the most part believable.

Cons: The second narrator, Microphilus, a Scottish dwarf also kidnapped by pirates is just impossible to believe. First, that the Emperor would have allowed any man--even a dwarf--the run of his harem without ascertaining first that that man wasn't, if you know what I mean, is unrealistic. In addition, Microphilus' writing is tedious and overblown. He appears to write just for the joy of seeing his words on paper. Another problem to me is how quickly Helen acclimatizes to harem life, packing on the pounds until her butt looks like a pumpkin attached behind her waist (as described by the author), and becoming enamored of the same Emperor who repulsed her and who tortures and kills her best friend in the harem. A final issue is the conclusion--there isn't one. It appears that the author wrote herself into a corner, couldn't find a way out, and so just quit writing without resolving anything.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably good historical fiction, November 16, 2005

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fourth Queen: A Novel (Hardcover)

It seems I only find really good books when I'm not looking for them, meaning of course, I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. The premise is fascinating, a Scottish teenager, Helen is captured by pirates while on her way to America in the 17th century. She is hand picked by the dwarf keeper of the Emperors harem, because the dwarf, Microphilus, knows the emperor like white women. Helen is pregnant, but its standard procedure to give women bound for the emperors Harem an abortion, since a hymen test may prove unreliable and of course, all women must be, or appear to be virgins.

Helen adjusts to life in the harem quickly, helped out by Microphilus, who is also a Scot and introduces her to Queen Batoom, one of the Emperor's four wives, who helps her learn to "play sex" which all the women in the harem do. They wait for the Emperor to want to "play sex" with them. This is portrayed as well as anyone could do it, the author captures the desperation of the women waiting, the pride of the women chosen, and the disgust of Helen's at this system perfectly.

Life in the Harem turns vicious once Helen captures the heart of the Emperor (and he hers, though she knows Microphilus is in love with her) and strange spiny things start turning up in Helen's rooms. Soon she falls ill, as other queens have done, with a wasting sickness. Someone is behind this, but who is it? It must be either a woman in the harem, or one of the eunuch guards.

This book is romantic, exciting, mysterious and just dam great. Its one of the best books I've ever read and I can't wait for the author's next work. In fact, it may be a sequel to "the forth queen."

The best thing about this story is it's mostly true, or based on truth. The Emperor of this book is the real man behind the king in "the king and I" and he had a Scottish redheaded wife who is credited with gentling him and making him more "western." Some reviewers complain that the character of Microphilus is taken from a real person who lived not in Helen's time, but honestly, this is a novel. It's fine to do things like that. That's why it's fiction.

I recommend this book highly to everyone. If you're prudish though, you may not enjoy it. This book is very frank about sexuality and sex and quite violent. The time period though, was that way.