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House of Daughters
Engin Inel Holmstrom's second novel, House of Daughters, is a delightful adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to 1920s Turkey. The Ottoman Empire is dying. Istanbul is occupied by the British. But all Emin Efendi can think of is marrying off his five daughters to secure their places and fortunes.
While working as a nurse, Emin Efendi's favorite daughter Perihan meets a dashing, wounded Turkish officer, Major Murat. They're attracted to each other, but Murat's pride in his family's social status prejudices their blossoming love.
In this retelling, Jane Austen's beloved characters are taken out of the drawing room and their tale is told within the historical context of the Turkish fight for independence, birth of its new nation, and greater opportunities for women. House of Daughters should appeal to Austen's readers as well as all those who enjoy reading novels with strong female characters.
"HOUSE OF DAUGHTERS is a thrilling blend of adventure, romance, and the personal courage of men and women, during the birth of the Turkish Republic of the 1920s. Exploring the British and Turkish conflict in Anatolia and written like a romantic fable with a dark side, the novel tells of high romance, honor, betrayal, and family saga, in a beautiful mash-up of classic and modern literature. Taking its framing story from Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Engin Inel Holmstrom has given Austen's tale a modern twist with scenes of soccer matches, gun-running, cross-cultural secrets, and nationalistic fervor in a story of new beginnings, old traditions, and the rise of the new Turkish state. A sweet delight of hushed promises undermined by the demands of family, friends, country and gender, HOUSE OF DAUGHTERS is a hybrid story drawn through the eighteenth and twentieth centuries best understood in the twenty-first century. Following her debut novel LOVESWEPT, Holmstrom's second novel uncovers a vital history of European struggle for identity, unity, and self-determination. A proud story of unchanging human desire, conflict, and fresh hope."
--Matt Fullerty, Author of THE KNIGHT OF NEW ORLEANS and
THE MURDERESS AND THE HANGMAN
While working as a nurse, Emin Efendi's favorite daughter Perihan meets a dashing, wounded Turkish officer, Major Murat. They're attracted to each other, but Murat's pride in his family's social status prejudices their blossoming love.
In this retelling, Jane Austen's beloved characters are taken out of the drawing room and their tale is told within the historical context of the Turkish fight for independence, birth of its new nation, and greater opportunities for women. House of Daughters should appeal to Austen's readers as well as all those who enjoy reading novels with strong female characters.
"HOUSE OF DAUGHTERS is a thrilling blend of adventure, romance, and the personal courage of men and women, during the birth of the Turkish Republic of the 1920s. Exploring the British and Turkish conflict in Anatolia and written like a romantic fable with a dark side, the novel tells of high romance, honor, betrayal, and family saga, in a beautiful mash-up of classic and modern literature. Taking its framing story from Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Engin Inel Holmstrom has given Austen's tale a modern twist with scenes of soccer matches, gun-running, cross-cultural secrets, and nationalistic fervor in a story of new beginnings, old traditions, and the rise of the new Turkish state. A sweet delight of hushed promises undermined by the demands of family, friends, country and gender, HOUSE OF DAUGHTERS is a hybrid story drawn through the eighteenth and twentieth centuries best understood in the twenty-first century. Following her debut novel LOVESWEPT, Holmstrom's second novel uncovers a vital history of European struggle for identity, unity, and self-determination. A proud story of unchanging human desire, conflict, and fresh hope."
--Matt Fullerty, Author of THE KNIGHT OF NEW ORLEANS and
THE MURDERESS AND THE HANGMAN
232 pages, Paperback
Published December 20, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 4, 2017
3.5 stars
First of all I won a kindle version of this book in a drawing on Anne's blog. As in all Kindle editions you open to the first chapter. If you are going to read this turn back a few pages and copy for yourself the Turkish Honorifics used after first names and other Turkish words. Even with those in front of me it was distracting to have to stop and look to see who is who in this story or even at times the relationships. I did type out and keep a list of names and their relationships for my own edification. As an American, whose country did not have occupation in Turkey I found most of the historical facts new and interesting. England did occupy parts of Turkey, as we read, so natives of that country may have learned some of the history of Turkey as it intersected with Great Britain’s.
Much of this story does give details of Turkey's struggle to become a republic. It also tells of women's seeking change in their paths from being kept at home only to become wives and mothers to having careers, voting rights and clothing which allowed freedom of movement as well as style.
The story is set in 1920 just after WWII has ended. Turkey is occupied by several countries. Emin Efendi has income from his position as a hospital procurement official as well as from rents he collects. He has a wife and 5 daughters: Melike, Perihan, Handan, Selma, and Zekiye. The daughters do resemble the Bennet sisters in P&P but his wife, Semahat Hanim, has some secrets. She has learned how to act to get her own way. (I am reminded of how intelligent Lucille Ball was only to then act the fool on screen.) They live in a large house in which other family members have their own quarters. Muzaffer Pasha is the head of the household and his son, Nevzat, brings members, i.e., Kaan, Ali, Murat, of his soccer team to the house where they at times also have visits from the female cousins. Perihan overhears talk of taking back their country from the occupying forces during one such time.
Backing up a little, we then learn that Perihan had worked as a nurse in a military hospital nursing wounded soldiers. This was a break with tradition as women did not have careers and nurses were usually from poor families. So when the Pasha decided to ask for volunteer from the higher classes of women, Perihan is the only sister who takes the opportunity. She is given Florence Nightengales' book on nursing and makes many changes, especially to sanitary conditions. It is here she meets the unconscious Murat and falls in love with him. Others on the ward tease the couple about their obvious feelings...until his aunt and cousin (Think: Aunt Catherine and Anne) visit and snub Perihan as being beneath "their family's level". Murat now pays no attention to Perihan nor does he even look at her.
Perihan and Melike are offered a chance to attend a public affair at which Murat’s aunt Hanzade Sultan, and her daughter were in attendance a year ago. Their mother, Semahat Hanim, rolls her sleeves up and decides that her daughters are not only going but they are going in style. Cousin, Nevzat, sees it as an opportunity to mix with the British military who will be there and maybe, just maybe, with open ears and the right questions learn something to help the patriots recover weapons confiscated by the British and hidden somewhere. Melike wants nothing to so with "spying" but Perihan is all for doing something to help her country.
Following canon we do have a Wickham/Lydia event with a neighboring family: Ismail Efendi, Hanife Hanim, daughter, Nazan, and her fiancé, Lt. Ferit. But this turns out so very differently and I was grateful for this author's handling of that parallel event.
This tale crams a lot into its pages. I would have liked more romance but do understand that there was much to relate about this country and the changes in politics, in government, in the culture for both men and women.
I loved a certain paragraph at the end. I won't repeat it here but it certainly brought a smile to my face as I thought, "How clever!"
First of all I won a kindle version of this book in a drawing on Anne's blog. As in all Kindle editions you open to the first chapter. If you are going to read this turn back a few pages and copy for yourself the Turkish Honorifics used after first names and other Turkish words. Even with those in front of me it was distracting to have to stop and look to see who is who in this story or even at times the relationships. I did type out and keep a list of names and their relationships for my own edification. As an American, whose country did not have occupation in Turkey I found most of the historical facts new and interesting. England did occupy parts of Turkey, as we read, so natives of that country may have learned some of the history of Turkey as it intersected with Great Britain’s.
Much of this story does give details of Turkey's struggle to become a republic. It also tells of women's seeking change in their paths from being kept at home only to become wives and mothers to having careers, voting rights and clothing which allowed freedom of movement as well as style.
The story is set in 1920 just after WWII has ended. Turkey is occupied by several countries. Emin Efendi has income from his position as a hospital procurement official as well as from rents he collects. He has a wife and 5 daughters: Melike, Perihan, Handan, Selma, and Zekiye. The daughters do resemble the Bennet sisters in P&P but his wife, Semahat Hanim, has some secrets. She has learned how to act to get her own way. (I am reminded of how intelligent Lucille Ball was only to then act the fool on screen.) They live in a large house in which other family members have their own quarters. Muzaffer Pasha is the head of the household and his son, Nevzat, brings members, i.e., Kaan, Ali, Murat, of his soccer team to the house where they at times also have visits from the female cousins. Perihan overhears talk of taking back their country from the occupying forces during one such time.
Backing up a little, we then learn that Perihan had worked as a nurse in a military hospital nursing wounded soldiers. This was a break with tradition as women did not have careers and nurses were usually from poor families. So when the Pasha decided to ask for volunteer from the higher classes of women, Perihan is the only sister who takes the opportunity. She is given Florence Nightengales' book on nursing and makes many changes, especially to sanitary conditions. It is here she meets the unconscious Murat and falls in love with him. Others on the ward tease the couple about their obvious feelings...until his aunt and cousin (Think: Aunt Catherine and Anne) visit and snub Perihan as being beneath "their family's level". Murat now pays no attention to Perihan nor does he even look at her.
Perihan and Melike are offered a chance to attend a public affair at which Murat’s aunt Hanzade Sultan, and her daughter were in attendance a year ago. Their mother, Semahat Hanim, rolls her sleeves up and decides that her daughters are not only going but they are going in style. Cousin, Nevzat, sees it as an opportunity to mix with the British military who will be there and maybe, just maybe, with open ears and the right questions learn something to help the patriots recover weapons confiscated by the British and hidden somewhere. Melike wants nothing to so with "spying" but Perihan is all for doing something to help her country.
Following canon we do have a Wickham/Lydia event with a neighboring family: Ismail Efendi, Hanife Hanim, daughter, Nazan, and her fiancé, Lt. Ferit. But this turns out so very differently and I was grateful for this author's handling of that parallel event.
This tale crams a lot into its pages. I would have liked more romance but do understand that there was much to relate about this country and the changes in politics, in government, in the culture for both men and women.
I loved a certain paragraph at the end. I won't repeat it here but it certainly brought a smile to my face as I thought, "How clever!"
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November 3, 2017Review originally posted on Diary of an Eccentric
In House of Daughters, Engin Ingel Holmstrom bring Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Turkey in the 1920s. The Ottoman Empire is nearing an end, and the Turkish people are growing restless under the British occupation following World War I. Women like Perihan Emin are seeking more than an isolated existence under the watchful eyes of their male relatives. Perihan meets Major Murat while serving as a nurse in Istanbul. She had fallen in love with him during his hospital stay, but her pride was hurt when his aunt — who grew up in the Sultan’s palace — insults her position in society. Perihan is forced to confront her unresolved feelings for Murat when she learns that he is working with her cousin Nevzat as they conspire against the occupying nations.
House of Daughters is similar to Austen’s novel in several respects. There is, of course, the attraction and misunderstandings between Perihan and Murat, our Elizabeth and Darcy. Perihan is one of five sisters in need of husbands, and young, single men are scarce due to the war. Each of Perihan’s sisters is similar to their corresponding Bennet sister, and Perihan is similar to Elizabeth in her outspoken and modern ways. I enjoyed watching Perihan come to terms with her feelings for Murat while embracing the new role for women in the new republic.
Overall, I found the novel enjoyable, especially in noting where it parallels Austen’s and in seeing how well Austen’s characters translated from Regency England to Ottoman Turkey. However, what kept me from loving the novel was the detached writing style. There was more telling than showing, which prevented me from really connecting to the characters and feeling their attachment to one another. For instance, when readers first meet Murat, he and Perihan have already met and had their misunderstanding at the hospital, which is simply retold in a couple of pages. I also am not familiar with the historical events depicted here, so I would have appreciated more details and explanations woven into the narrative.
Nevertheless, I felt like I had a good grasp on what all the upheaval meant for women at the time, and I enjoyed watching Perihan and Murat navigate the changes, both in their personal lives and in a larger context. I never would have imagined a Pride and Prejudice variation set in 1920s Turkey, so that alone made it a worthwhile read!
I received a free copy of this book for review.
In House of Daughters, Engin Ingel Holmstrom bring Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Turkey in the 1920s. The Ottoman Empire is nearing an end, and the Turkish people are growing restless under the British occupation following World War I. Women like Perihan Emin are seeking more than an isolated existence under the watchful eyes of their male relatives. Perihan meets Major Murat while serving as a nurse in Istanbul. She had fallen in love with him during his hospital stay, but her pride was hurt when his aunt — who grew up in the Sultan’s palace — insults her position in society. Perihan is forced to confront her unresolved feelings for Murat when she learns that he is working with her cousin Nevzat as they conspire against the occupying nations.
House of Daughters is similar to Austen’s novel in several respects. There is, of course, the attraction and misunderstandings between Perihan and Murat, our Elizabeth and Darcy. Perihan is one of five sisters in need of husbands, and young, single men are scarce due to the war. Each of Perihan’s sisters is similar to their corresponding Bennet sister, and Perihan is similar to Elizabeth in her outspoken and modern ways. I enjoyed watching Perihan come to terms with her feelings for Murat while embracing the new role for women in the new republic.
Overall, I found the novel enjoyable, especially in noting where it parallels Austen’s and in seeing how well Austen’s characters translated from Regency England to Ottoman Turkey. However, what kept me from loving the novel was the detached writing style. There was more telling than showing, which prevented me from really connecting to the characters and feeling their attachment to one another. For instance, when readers first meet Murat, he and Perihan have already met and had their misunderstanding at the hospital, which is simply retold in a couple of pages. I also am not familiar with the historical events depicted here, so I would have appreciated more details and explanations woven into the narrative.
Nevertheless, I felt like I had a good grasp on what all the upheaval meant for women at the time, and I enjoyed watching Perihan and Murat navigate the changes, both in their personal lives and in a larger context. I never would have imagined a Pride and Prejudice variation set in 1920s Turkey, so that alone made it a worthwhile read!
I received a free copy of this book for review.
January 27, 2018
It was a really interesting take on Pride & Prejudice. I quite liked the cultural slant on the story, being only a little familiar with Turkish life at the end of WWI.
SPOILER ALERT: One of the things that bothered me was that except for the Wickham character (who only made a very brief appearance and then disappeared for the rest of the book), absolutely everyone else turned out to be noble, wise, and able to make all the right choices--the mother, the foolish sisters, the aunt. There was some jealousy with the main characters, but even that was immediately dismissed with just a smile. It was sort of like all the hurdles that the characters faced in the original were all swept away with almost no effort and no real consequences on the part of those characters who made mistakes--everything worked out perfectly for everyone. While normally I like happy endings, somehow this all made it a little dissatisfying.
END OF SPOILER ALERT.
I did enjoy this book quite a lot. It was a fast read and certainly more interesting than some of the P&P homages I've read in the past. If you're a fan of P&P and are interested in Turkey in the early 1920s, it's certainly worth a read. And I found the print of the hardcopy very easy to read!
SPOILER ALERT: One of the things that bothered me was that except for the Wickham character (who only made a very brief appearance and then disappeared for the rest of the book), absolutely everyone else turned out to be noble, wise, and able to make all the right choices--the mother, the foolish sisters, the aunt. There was some jealousy with the main characters, but even that was immediately dismissed with just a smile. It was sort of like all the hurdles that the characters faced in the original were all swept away with almost no effort and no real consequences on the part of those characters who made mistakes--everything worked out perfectly for everyone. While normally I like happy endings, somehow this all made it a little dissatisfying.
END OF SPOILER ALERT.
I did enjoy this book quite a lot. It was a fast read and certainly more interesting than some of the P&P homages I've read in the past. If you're a fan of P&P and are interested in Turkey in the early 1920s, it's certainly worth a read. And I found the print of the hardcopy very easy to read!
March 24, 2019
Disappointing. I was excited to read this, and I still like the premise, but the execution was poor and clunky. The dialogue and all descriptions of motivations were wooden.
The author seemingly couldn’t bear to have any characters who weren’t vindicated or wholly and completely rehabilitated—everyone unpleasant was miraculously turned into being just misunderstood, or at most a little old fashioned and needing to easily work through their old ideas to arrive at the new ones. No actions or decisions had any lasting consequences. No real hurts were ever to be had. It was so utterly saccharine it was almost unbearable.
Even the Wickham character, the only “bad” character who remained, had almost zero impact. He was barely even present. Nearly everything to do with him happened off stage, and of course our r plucky heroine was never taken in by him, never charmed, never flattered, never had to learn a bitter lesson and become a better person. A few bits of lip service to the original themes of the work were thrown in, through the extremely clumsy insertion of dialogue verbatim from the original book, but that was about all.
The one good thing I can say is that it is interesting to read about that period in history in Turkey. It’s a pity it’s not in a better book.
The author seemingly couldn’t bear to have any characters who weren’t vindicated or wholly and completely rehabilitated—everyone unpleasant was miraculously turned into being just misunderstood, or at most a little old fashioned and needing to easily work through their old ideas to arrive at the new ones. No actions or decisions had any lasting consequences. No real hurts were ever to be had. It was so utterly saccharine it was almost unbearable.
Even the Wickham character, the only “bad” character who remained, had almost zero impact. He was barely even present. Nearly everything to do with him happened off stage, and of course our r plucky heroine was never taken in by him, never charmed, never flattered, never had to learn a bitter lesson and become a better person. A few bits of lip service to the original themes of the work were thrown in, through the extremely clumsy insertion of dialogue verbatim from the original book, but that was about all.
The one good thing I can say is that it is interesting to read about that period in history in Turkey. It’s a pity it’s not in a better book.
March 16, 2017
P&P in an unexpected place! While I've read a fair number of P&P variations, this is the most unique location. There were more than a couple of things I didn't fully understand, but that didn't really lessen my enjoyment of the story. Maybe footnotes or endnotes might be helpful? There seemed to be a few times where issues were resolved too quickly. Nevertheless, I'm glad to made this journey to place I know so very little about.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews