Many thanks to The Reading Agency and Harper Collins for providing copies of Last Letter from Istanbul, Macclesfield Library Reading Group have enjoyed reading and discussing this delicate story of human behaviour in the reality of war. On one of these secret visits Nur is discovered by Dr George Monroe, a medical officer in the British army and to Nur, a sworn enemy. This is not to be their first encounter and as a reader we witness how their tentative but very delicate relationship develops over a period of time. Last Letter From Istanbul delivers little of what is promised by the synopsis, laudatory blurbs etc. This has been hailed as a “timeless love story” riddled with “haunting secrets”, and yet the ‘romance’ to me is achingly bland, simply because the two characters in question didn’t seem to connect on any sort of emotional level. The claim to romance is specious at best. As for the ‘secrets’, the mild twist for me was far too little too late.

By 1921 the Allied soldiers had well established themselves in the city of Constantinople. The local inhabitants remained fearful with many also carrying a great hatred against these invaders. The Allies took over their homes and buildings, taking up residence in what were once the grand homes of Turkish traders and successful business people. For one inhabitant, Nur, this occupation, and the war leading up to it, has taken everything from her. Her gentle brother, a teacher, never returned home from fighting and is now presumed dead. Her mother is unable to cope since and struggles daily to deal with her loss. Nur now resides in cramped living conditions with her mother, grandmother and a young orphaned boy, who Nur has committed herself to looking after. Nur’s only little bit of pleasure is her very occasional, and very secret, visits to her old family home across the Bosphorus river. Foley can definitely write. There were some fantastic descriptive sentences in the book and some eloquent observations of the human predicament. Just not enough to sway me. Don’t miss Lucy Foley’s Sunday Times bestselling crime debut, THE HUNTING PARTY, available to buy now.

From beginning to end, this story had captured my heart. I felt broken at its end. This book will leave its mark on you: it's brave, heartbreakingly ordinary, and yet altogether timeless in its delicate exploration of a history that is not as lovely as you first think. Enjoy this: let yourself be swept away. Last Letter from Istanbul is an evocative and emotional novel: it’s a transporting story of family ties, love and sacrifice, and the noble spirit at the heart of it all, which I came to understand and admire. She and the boy would both be at risk. Nur knows that she cannot afford to fall – impossibly and dangerously – in love . . . Also look out for Lucy Foley’s Sunday Times bestselling crime debut, THE HUNTING PARTY, available to buy now.* Weitere Personen sind der in den Krieg gezogene Bruder und ein verwaister Junge, der in Nurs neuem Heim Unterschlupf gefunden hat und um den sie sich rührend kümmert.

The story is mainly based on how war changes everyone and everywhere. With each chapter, you are told the story through different characters and I really did enjoy how well it was done. Their uniforms are clean but she sees them drenches in blood. How many men have you killed, she asks, silently….” Just didn’t work for me. I love historical fiction. Especially about history that is not well known. I also really like multiple POV stories so you can see several facets of the same story. But I found myself pushing to keep going. The story was soooo slow! Could definitely have used some editing. Last Letter from Istanbul is a compelling and sweeping tale that crosses decades and takes the reader on a captivating journey through the tumultuous history of a nation that has struggled to maintain an identity, a nation that struggles to find peace. It takes a while for these strands to come together, but once they do, the story envelops you. It’s as if one of Nur’s embroidered shawls wraps around you, bundling you into the story alongside her. Lucy Foley brings the sights, smells and sounds of Istanbul to life in her writing and evokes an impression of what it was like to be there at this moment in the city’s history; a period I didn’t know much about before reading.

What you need to know before your trail

Also look out for Lucy Foley’s Sunday Times bestselling crime debut, THE HUNTING PARTY, available to buy now.* ‘This will sweep you away for the summer. Lucy Foley blends a rich history, haunting secrets and a timeless love story’ Santa Montefiore, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Deverill series A Well written book about loss and war and the human minds ability to restrain feelings. An Excellent read.” We meet Nur, a young woman living in Constantinople- her beloved Istanbul- a city brutally overtaken by the Allied Forces. She yearns for the life she lost and is reminded daily of the changes: she sees the Allied soldiers laughing and taunting her fellow people. She is surrounded, consumed, by her justified bitterness. She knows the enemy, and judges those who refuse to see the truth, those who have accepted their great losses. But she also knows that in the face of these losses, she has tasted real freedom as well as great inequality.