The Architect's Apprentice

I still think about the elephant and his trainer years after reading this novel, and I sometimes reread it to visit with them again. There is something so charming, so vibrant about their relationship through all their adventures and dangerous intrigues at the Ottoman court.

I love to climb aboard the author's wonderful, evocative writing and let it carry me through stories peopled with fascinating places and characters. These stories have deep currents—love, devotion, rivalry, and the push and pull between religion and science.

A mammoth of an historical novel set in the time of the Ottoman Empire.

A unique love story between the elephant keeper (and royal architect) Jahan, his special white elephant, Chota, and the interesting princess Mihrimah. As funny as it is heartbreaking, with characters so compelling they felt like cherished friends mourned and missed at parting, but whom I’ll always remember with deep fondness.   

Evoking the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, The Architect’s Apprentice depicts the boy Jahan’s magical life after he brings the first white elephant to the Sultan. Falling in love with Princess Mihrimah, Jahan must survive in a treacherous court. I was privileged to share a talk and book signing day with Elif Shafak in Hatchard’s, London in 2021 and learnt so much from this wonderful, empathetic author about her writing and historical recreations.