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Meanwhile, George Monroe is a Scottish doctor, administering at the local military hospital overlooking the Bosporus, which was once Nur’s grand family home. When the Armenian boy requires help, their lives become entwined with consequences neither could have foreseen. It is a slow read and builds up a dramatic picture of war and humanity by the end. I liked the way it was written from the perspective of four people as this story of love amidst a landscape of conflicting cultures and how it tries to survive. 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. Last Letter from Istanbul is an evocative and emotional novel: it’s a transporting story of family ties, love and sacrifice, and the noble spirit at the heart of it all, which I came to understand and admire. Es una lectura algo fuerte, está escrita muy bonito y tiene descripciones muy bellas de cosas comunes, pero eso no le quita el ambiente triste que inunda la historia. Te presentan las múltiples interrogantes de un conflicto: ¿Existen soldados buenos y malos dependiendo del lado en que luchen? ¿Quién la tiene más difícil,los soldados o los civiles? ¿Es mejor para los prisioneros de guerra volver a casa y vivir con lo que pasó o morir? ¿Alguien alguna vez se recupera realmente de la guerra?
Book Review: Last Letter from Istanbul by Lucy Foley
I also found the tone of the book a little pretentious at times. I don’t know what it was exactly that bothered me; I think it was just trying too hard to be this piece of great literary fiction but it did not succeed. The writing got quite convoluted and irritating at times. Lyrical prose takes the reader on this unbelievable journey of lesser-known history. The prose entice the reader into continuing: for instance, the birds swarming into the garden to feast on the pomegranates, are described as a carnival of sound, a choas of wings. Yet, one desciption had me a little baffled: the water is eloquent. The water talks, babbles, sings, tells a story? At least it made me think. I loved it though. History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Shortlist The more we talked through the book, the characters and the plot the more it occurred how the huge themes of war, human nature, tradition, culture and love is told through a million small details in the book. The plot itself is not fast paced but each chapter we look through a window into each character and through their experience of daily life in the occupied city, we gain an understanding and an empathy with Nur, George, The Boy, The Prisoner and The Traveller .The house has been transformed into an army hospital, it is a prize of war in the hands of the British. And as Nur weaves through the streets carrying the embroideries that have become her livelihood, Constantinople swarms with Allied soldiers a reminder of how far she and her city have fallen. 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? This conflict between freedom and propriety swirls around Nur and comes to the fore when she finds herself asking for help. George is the enemy personified and I felt for Nur when she’s in his company because of the internal struggles she endures each time. George seems to have less of an understanding of this because he’s one of the occupying forces and a man, although he’s not without a sense of (somewhat) delayed propriety. I did like how you were not really sure of who some of the characters were.........” the traveller”, “the prisoner”.....and I liked the reveal near the end. 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.
REVIEW: LAST LETTER FROM ISTANBUL by Lucy Foley - Jan Bowles REVIEW: LAST LETTER FROM ISTANBUL by Lucy Foley - Jan Bowles
Occasionally it’s the author’s writing style that sweeps the reader to a particular time and place. Such is the case with Last Letter from Istanbul where Lucy Foley’s lyrical, evocative imaginings of life in 1921 in Istanbul (renamed Constantinople by the hated allied occupiers) whisks the reader to dusty streets, to the peaceful shade of quiet gardens, to a life changed forever by war. Nur is a resourceful young widow who, having been ousted from her life of luxury and still grieving for her beloved brother who is missing in action, now finds herself caring not only for her mother and grandmother, but also for an orphaned Armenian boy. The ending in particular I found quite poignant and the book itself left me feeling quite melancholy and pondering about what I’d just read. Lucy Foley is a very effective writer and it’s definately worth reading through until the end , until you see the bigger picture. I really LOVE this author's stories. The plots can be confusing at first, but the stories are solid, especially the endings. It's nearer to literature than just a light read, I would say, but accessible enough for anyone to dive in and discover more of the world we are living in.
The ending elevates this book to something serious and realistic. Yes, reality at its finest. The story nevertheless will capture the heart and mind of the historical fiction afficionados. Many thanks to The Reading Agency and Harper Collins for providing copies of Last Letter from Istanbul, Macclesfield Library Reading Group have enjoyed reading and discussing this delicate story of human behaviour in the reality of war. We meet Nur, a young woman living in Constantinople- her beloved Istanbul- a city brutally overtaken by the Allied Forces. She yearns for the life she lost and is reminded daily of the changes: she sees the Allied soldiers laughing and taunting her fellow people. She is surrounded, consumed, by her justified bitterness. She knows the enemy, and judges those who refuse to see the truth, those who have accepted their great losses. But she also knows that in the face of these losses, she has tasted real freedom as well as great inequality. Last Letter From Istanbul delivers little of what is promised by the synopsis, laudatory blurbs etc. This has been hailed as a “timeless love story” riddled with “haunting secrets”, and yet the ‘romance’ to me is achingly bland, simply because the two characters in question didn’t seem to connect on any sort of emotional level. The claim to romance is specious at best. As for the ‘secrets’, the mild twist for me was far too little too late. Debo reconocer que yo tenía un poco de miedo de que me romantizaran la guerra o las ocupaciones de ciudades por parte de los ganadores de un conflicto; afortunadamente eso no pasó.
Last Letter from Istanbul by Lucy Foley | Goodreads
This will sweep you away for the summer. Lucy Foley blends a rich history, haunting secrets and a timeless love story’ Santa Montefiore, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Deverill series From beginning to end, this story had captured my heart. I felt broken at its end. This book will leave its mark on you: it's brave, heartbreakingly ordinary, and yet altogether timeless in its delicate exploration of a history that is not as lovely as you first think. Enjoy this: let yourself be swept away. Also look out for Lucy Foley’s Sunday Times bestselling crime debut, THE HUNTING PARTY, available to buy now.* ‘This will sweep you away for the summer. Lucy Foley blends a rich history, haunting secrets and a timeless love story’ Santa Montefiore, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Deverill series New Sports Biographies and Autobiographies: Gift a Book for the Sports Fan In Your Life this ChristmasThe 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. It’s a time of uncertainty: there are occupation forces on the streets, refugees arriving on a daily basis and everyone’s hustling to survive. Despite that, for Nur it’s also a time of increased freedom: she can go out to work as a teacher, substituting for her brother who went off to war and hasn’t returned, and she no longer needs to wear the veil when leaving the house. But this freedom is new and not without limitations: she sees the disapproving looks as she walks the streets of her city, and knows that she can only push against long-held customs and norms so much. Set during the occupation of Istanbul by allied forces after the First World War, Last Letter from Istanbul tells its story from alternating viewpoints. Those of Nur, a local evicted from her family home and now living with her mother and grandmother in a far less desirable district; the young boy who has been taken in by Nur; George, the army doctor, whose hospital occupies Nur’s former home; and two unnamed characters in the Traveller and the Prisoner. It becomes clear who they are as the novel progresses. Her liberation has come at a price. She is a teacher now and a child's guardian, she understands duty and responsibility. What then, when circumstances have her questioning her core values? What would her father have said? Or her little brother, who was forced to fight in his country's war? A sorrowful war changes a country forever- changes its people, can the trauma be reversed? Forgiven? Is there room for love in such a hateful sphere?
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