The Architect's Apprentice
  • Published: 24 June 2015
  • ISBN: 9780241970942
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $22.99

The Architect's Apprentice

Formats & editions
Paperback
24 Jun 2015
EBook
6 Nov 2014
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A sweeping, magical novel from Elif Shafak set in 16th-century Istanbul, bursting with colour, romance and white elephants

When Jahan travels to 16th-century Istanbul as a stowaway carrying the gift of a white elephant for the sultan, little does he know the journey on which he is about to embark.

As he settles into life in Istanbul, Jahan's fortunes are shaped by chance encounters. In the palace gardens he meets Mihrimah, the beautiful and mischievous princess, and loses his heart in an instant. Later he catches the eye of Grand Architect Sinan, who chooses Jahan as his apprentice and changes the young boy's destiny forever.

Full of magic, colour and societal upheaval in the architectural renaissance of Turkey, this is the sweeping tale of plagues, wars, forbidden romance and the simple love between a boy and his elephant.
  • Published: 24 June 2015
  • ISBN: 9780241970942
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into fifty-five languages. The author of nineteen books, twelve of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak's latest novel, The Island of Missing Trees, was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and the Women's Prize. Her previous novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize; longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award; and chosen as Blackwell's Book of the Year. She is a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature. Shafak was awarded the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to 'the renewal of the art of storytelling.'

Also by Elif Shafak

The Island of Missing Trees
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
Three Daughters of Eve
The Bastard of Istanbul
Black Milk
Honour
The Happiness of Blond People
See all

Praise for The Architect's Apprentice

A gorgeous picture of a city teeming with secrets, intrigue and romance

The Times

Exuberant, epic and comic, fantastical and realistic . . . like all good stories it conveys deeper meanings about human experience

Financial Times

Fascinating. A vigorous evocation of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power

Sunday Times

Intricate, multi-layered, resplendent, vividly evoked, beautifully written

Observer

Sumptuous, absorbing, moving

Independent on Sunday