The Mapmaker's Daughter a novel

Reviews / Votes

"[An] absorbing historical novel... compellingly interlaces public history and intimate conjecture." -- The New Yorker "A heartbreaking read that marries a strong story arc with a dedication to historical details." -- Booklist (starred) "A fascinating evocation of the major players of the Ottoman renaissance." -- Kirkus Reviews "Voice - the great, elusive necessity in all historical fiction-is rapturous and irresistible in The Mapmaker's Daughter. Katherine Hughes's novel just seems to talk to us, and in so doing makes these titanic events seem human and natural, and thus all-the-more preoccupying. A very impressive book, indeed."-Richard Ford

"In The Mapmaker's Daughter, Katherine Hughes introduces us to Cecilia-Nurbanu, an astonishing girl who becomes a woman of immense power in the Ottoman Empire. Lost to history, Hughes retrieves her and through a stunning act of imagination takes us into her consciousness as she finally reckons with a decision that in the light of the present seems unspeakable. Hughes's novel is a potent reminder of what even today a woman may encounter when she becomes, as Nurbanu becomes, an accessory to power."-Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice

"Hughes adeptly mixes fictionalized elements with historical details."-Publishers Weekly

"Hughes has richly imagined the life of a remarkable historical figure. . . readers who enjoy in-depth historical detail and court intrigue will be riveted."-Library Journal

"An impressively engaging and consistently entertaining read from beginning to end, The Mapmaker's Daughter reveals author Katherine Nouri Hughes's genuine storytelling gifts. ... Unreservedly recommended as an enduringly popular addition to community library Historical Fiction collections..."-Midwest Book Review

"When the fiction is good, the history is usually distorted, and on the rare occasions when the history is good, the fiction is usually less interesting than the straight historical narrative. This novel is a remarkable exception . . . part history, part fiction, it is enthralling."-Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University

"Of all the appetites the lust for power is the strongest-and most dangerous. This is a lively, absorbing and utterly convincing self-portrait of a woman who came under the influence of the greatest of all Ottoman sultans-with tragic consequences."-Edmund White, author of Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris

"Based on a historical event of rare improbability-the rise in the sixteenth century of a daughter of Venice to the rank of Queen Mother in the mighty Ottoman Empire-this novel is a gorgeous feat of imagination, a stellar work by a gifted writer."-Arnold Rampersand, Stanford University, author of Ralph Ellison

"The Mapmaker's Daughter is an immersive, beautifully-woven narrative that dissects the paradoxes of female power and the particularities of the 16th century Ottoman Empire."-Dr. Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War