The stone woman

Istanbul, 1899. The last great Islamic empire is in serious trouble.

The family of Iskender Pasha, an Ottoman notable, has retired to its summer palace.

Then a former tutor poses a question which the family has been refusing to confront for almost a century: 'Your Ottoman Empire is like a drunken prostitute, neither knowing nor caring who will take her next.

Do I exaggerate, Memed?' This passionate story of jealousies, betrayals and vendettas charts the decay of the Empire and the rise of a new generation which is deeply hostile to the myths of the 'golden days.' The power of the 'Islam Quintet' lies both in the story-telling and its challenge against stereotyped images of life under Islam.