The Girl From the Golden Horn: Translated From the German by Jenia Graman [Hardcover]

Kurban Said (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2001

The extraordinary saga of the mysterious life of Kurban Said was told in amazing detail in a recent New Yorker article. One of the most beguiling mysteries it uncovered was the existence of another magical novel— The Girl From the Golden Horn. It is being published in English now for the first time.

It is 1928 and Asiadeh Anbara and her father, members of the Turkish royal court, find themselves in exile in Berlin after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Years ago she had been promised to a Turkish prince but now, under the spell of the West, the nineteen-year-old Muslim girl falls in love and marries a Viennese doctor, an "unbeliever." But when she again meets the prince—now a screenwriter living in exile in New York—and he decide he wants her as his wife, she is torn between the marriage she made in good faith and her promised duty made long ago.

The Girl From the Golden Horn is a novel of the clash of cultures and values—of prewar Istanbul and decadent postwar Berlin. And, of course, Muslims and Christians. But it is also about the clash within Asiadeh herself, and the tension between duty and desire. The Girl From the Golden Horn is an insinuatingly and strikingly beautiful novel—suspenseful and exotic—and Kurban Said is, once again, in full control of his power to entertain and enthrall.

Translated by Jenia Graman.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An evocative new translation of a second novel by the author of Ali and Nino, this rich and memorable work follows one woman's journeys in the landscape of exile and love in post-WWI Europe. And while it was written in 1938, references to the strained relationship between Muslims and Christians are prescient. Asiadeh Anbari is the young daughter of a Turkish pasha in exile following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Promised as a bride to the former prince, Asiadeh is now adrift in Berlin. She meets Dr. Hassa, a Viennese laryngologist whose attentions prove both terrifying and entrancing. Though Hassa and his Western ways are at times bewildering to Asiadeh, the two fall in love. Said masterfully captures the fragility of their cultural boundaries, and the resulting love story is painfully poignant. Asiadeh pens a desperate letter to her former betrothed, asking him to release her from her obligation to him. Miraculously, the letter reaches the prince in hiding, who, overwhelmed by his own sorrow and loss, responds, urging her to follow any path that may grant her peace. Asiadeh and Hassa marry, although neither proves truly unencumbered by the past. On settling in Vienna, Asiadeh seems to lose both her language and bearings, trapped in a cold country in which she is continuously and profoundly misunderstood. It is then that the prince, alone and hungry for his homeland, comes to claim her. What follows is a passionate and heartbreaking story of love and loss on many different levels. Like the Asiatic musical scale referenced so often in the narrative, this novel is hauntingly beautiful, a lyrical and moving tribute to the meaning of homeland. (Nov.)Forecast: Appearing in the same season as Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red, this brilliant exploration of cultural heritage could be a successful handsell to readers interested in Turkish history and culture.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Nineteen-year-old Asiadeh and her father, members of the Turkish royal court, are living in exile in Berlin after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Prince Abdul-Kerim, to whom she was promised in marriage, has disappeared entirely, and Asiadeh is left with no precedence for how a devout Muslim girl responds to such circumstances. Meanwhile, with every step a culture shock, she is learning what it means to live in the West with "nonbelievers," including Dr. Alex Hassa, who presumes to court her and introduce her to an outrageous world of bathing suits, divorcees, and married couples who are childless by choice. It is only after she marries Hassa that the prince-now a New York City-dwelling screenwriter who feels empty without Islam-seeks her out to claim her hand. Said's acute depictions of mounting cultural misunderstandings rival E. M. Forster's, and everything from the descriptions of lavish, fateful parties to the treatment of identity and destiny recalls The Great Gatsby. Set in 1928, the novel could not be more relevant today, and appeals on tragic, comic, romantic, and political levels. Asiadeh is an intelligent and headstrong protagonist, and one gets an excellent look at how hard it can be to accept social conventions that are not one's own-and how words like "dignity" and "marriage" can mean such different things to different people. This is a compelling, important book that raises many questions, and would make a particularly good choice for a YA book club.
Emily Lloyd, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (October 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585671738
• ISBN-13: 978-1585671731
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,889,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love and the clash of cultures in pre-war Vienna, March 24, 2004

By 

abt1950 "abt1950" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl From the Golden Horn: Translated From the German by Jenia Graman (Hardcover)

"The Girl from the Golden Horn" is an insightful novel about two mismatched but well-meaning people. Asiadeh, an upper class Turkish girl living in European exile meets a Hasa, a Viennese doctor. They fall in love, marry, and try to overcome the cultural differences between them, He cannot comprehend her "wild" Turkish nature, and she cannot understand his "modern" outlook, let alone the behavior of his friends. Always in the background are Asiadeh's sense of duty to the Ottoman prince to whom she was betrothed as a child and and Hasa's memories of his unfaithful ex-wife. Although Said wrote the book specifically about expatriate Muslims in a Christian Europe, there is much about the loss of the past and the longing for home that transcends the specific characters and situations. The story is told with wit and lyricism and is a good read for anyone trying to understand the dislocations of losing one's homeland and culture.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bodice-ripper for intellectuals, June 17, 2007

By 

krebsman (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Girl from the Golden Horn (Paperback)

After reading THE ORIENTALIST I was interested in reading some of Kurban Said's fiction. ALI AND NINO was not available, so I picked up THE GIRL FROM THE GOLDEN HORN. This is a very peculiar book, I think. The heroine is an intelligent young female member of the exiled Turkish royal family studying Oriental languages in Weimar Berlin. She attracts the attention of a recently divorced young doctor who woos her. I was appalled when she writes a letter to the missing prince she was betrothed to stating that she wants nothing more than to be his slave and wash his feet, but if she does not hear from him, she will marry the doctor. I just don't understand this sensibility. But as I continued reading I felt that I gained some insight into the mentality of the Muslim woman. The novel is at its best when it depicts the woman navigating her way through an alien culture that is extremely decadent in comparison to her upbringing. Although I could not identify with her, I did understand her sense of displacement and did empathize with her during a painful chapter when she feels that she is a complete outsider at a social engagement. I think we've all been there at one time or another. Said captured the experience quite well. I guess the novel would best be described as a romance novel for intellectuals. It has many elements of a romance novel: a mysterious playboy prince, a rich and handsome young doctor, exotic locations in Europe, North Africa and Asia, costume balls, posh resorts and an attempted rape. But the heroine is an intellectual able to discuss religion, philosophy, history, anthropology and medicine in numerous languages. This is not the usual milieu of the romance genre. As a novel, it is far too dependent upon coincidence to be considered a first-rate work, but I nonetheless found it an interesting and insightful reading experience.