MIDNIGHT AT PERA PALACE I was in Istanbul last week. The purpose of the visit was a reunion and its duration 24 hours. Prior to this visit a very dear aunt of mine had insisted on giving me some money as a new year present. I refused adamantly while she insisted forcefully. My argument (which was reinforced with a raised voice) was “ Aunt I am almost 53 years old. I am not going to accept money from you at the age of 53” . Her argument (which was peppered with a couple of tear drops) was “You will always be a child in my eyes”. Needless to say her argument won the debate. It felf good to be treated like a child and it felt even better to feel like one. And I treated myself to a night at the Pera Palace Hotel with this present. Whenever I go abroad I play a brilliant game. Before that visit I read whatever I can lay my hands on the history of that place. And the biographies of its most famous children and occasionally some fiction. The aim of this game is to wander the streets of the place that I am visiting expecting the people that I had read about to appear coming towards me at a street corner. Live out the history of the place whenever I stumble upon a landmark of any kind. So on this occasion I re-read a couple of books on the history of the glorious nation that I am told I belong to and with me I took something that I had recently ordered from Amazon: Charles King’s “Midnight at the Pera Palace.” This is the best book that I have read in a very long time. It is a real page turner. But as you turn the pages eagerly to find out what is next in store, your heart sinks with the realisation that the end has now become closer. It is that kind of a rare book. You do not want it to end. It covers the period between the end of the Ottoman Empire and the end of the Second World War. It makes the legendary Pera Palace Hotel, which has once again become a truly magnificent hotel, as its focal point but it is in fact a narrative history of the city. And a brilliant one at that. You are explained through the experiences of the people who experienced war, collapse of an empire, occupation, radical social reform, women’s movement, persecution of the minorities (who were in fact the majority of the population of the city when the book starts and hugely reduced by its end ) , espionage. There is a kalediscope of stories of different people that paint a very vivid picture of the transformation that this great city experienced. You have Trostsky living the first years of his exile, tens of thousans of Russian emigres running away for their lives in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution, Ernest Hemingway , Joseph Goebbels, Agatha Christie. You have Halide Edip who tells you not only the story of the start of the women’s movement in Turkey but also the story of how Atatürk crushed all his critics once he was ensconced in power. You have the story of Keriman Halis Ece who became Turkey’s first ever Miss Universe that tells you how successful Atatürk was in his experiment of reinventing the Turks in the Western mould. And the list of the people whose stories make you smile, laugh, cry and learn, goes on and on. Do yourself a huge favour (if you love history and/or Istanbul) and read this book. You will love it.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 13:09:50 +0000
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