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

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Set in Constantinople in 1921, it tells the tale of a forbidden love between Nur and Medical Officer George Monroe. I started reading this on Sunday afternoon. It’s an easy read and I couldn’t put it down. It’s well written and so descriptive you could almost imagine yourself there tasting the local delicacies or feeling the breeze from the Bosphorus. By 1921 the Allied soldiers had well established themselves in the city of Constantinople. The local inhabitants remained fearful with many also carrying a great hatred against these invaders. The Allies took over their homes and buildings, taking up residence in what were once the grand homes of Turkish traders and successful business people. For one inhabitant, Nur, this occupation, and the war leading up to it, has taken everything from her. Her gentle brother, a teacher, never returned home from fighting and is now presumed dead. Her mother is unable to cope since and struggles daily to deal with her loss. Nur now resides in cramped living conditions with her mother, grandmother and a young orphaned boy, who Nur has committed herself to looking after. Nur’s only little bit of pleasure is her very occasional, and very secret, visits to her old family home across the Bosphorus river. 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. Wir schreiben das Jahr 1921. Istanbul ist nach dem Krieg von Besatzern überlaufen. Die einst so schöne und lebendige Stadt wirkt nun grau und traurig. Viele Familien haben Verluste zu beklagen und mussten ihr Heim verlassen. Unter anderem Nur und ihre Familie. In ihrem Heim ist jetzt ein Lazarett der Britten eingerichtet. Als es Nur eines Tages dorthin zieht, lernt sie den leitenden Arzt kennen. Es scheint sich eine Art Beziehung anzubahnen, die so nicht sein darf.

Last Letter from Istanbul by Lucy Foley | Waterstones

Just didn’t work for me. I love historical fiction. Especially about history that is not well known. I also really like multiple POV stories so you can see several facets of the same story. But I found myself pushing to keep going. The story was soooo slow! Could definitely have used some editing. I enjoyed this book despite the slow start. The characters and the setting were brought to life with beautiful writing. This was my first Lucy Foley book but it won't be my last. Being a fan of Victoria Hislop’s books I was looking forward to reading Last Letter from Istanbul by Lucy Foley. History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award ShortlistBest Books Set in the 1920s — from Stories That Shimmer with Champagne and Social Change, to Rip-roaring Reads Covering Crime, Colonialism and Beyond. 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: Escape with this 9780008169107: Last Letter from Istanbul: Escape with this

LoveReading exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. 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 her she and her city have fallen. 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. 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 story is about the mistrust between the English occupiers of Constantinople in 1921 and the local people. We are introduced to Nur who has to watch her former home being used as a military hospital. Her brother has gone to war and is presumed dead. She is caring for her mother and grandmother and teaching in the local school, taking her brother’s place.... Read Full Review