The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher write by Douglas Scott Brookes. This book was released on 2010. The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher
The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher write by Douglas Scott Brookes. This book was released on 2010-01-01. The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In the Western imagination, the Middle Eastern harem was a place of sex, debauchery, slavery, miscegenation, power, riches, and sheer abandon. But for the women and children who actually inhabited this realm of the imperial palace, the reality was vastly different. In this collection of translated memoirs, three women who lived in the Ottoman imperial harem in Istanbul between 1876 and 1924 offer a fascinating glimpse "behind the veil" into the lives of Muslim palace women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The memoirists are Filizten, concubine to Sultan Murad V; Princess Ayse, daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid II; and Safiye, a schoolteacher who instructed the grandchildren and harem ladies of Sultan Mehmed V. Their recollections of the Ottoman harem reveal the rigid protocol and hierarchy that governed the lives of the imperial family and concubines, as well as the hundreds of slave women and black eunuchs in service to them. The memoirists show that, far from being a place of debauchery, the harem was a family home in which polite and refined behavior prevailed. Douglas Brookes explains the social structure of the nineteenth-century Ottoman palace harem in his introduction. These three memoirs, written across a half century and by women of differing social classes, offer a fuller and richer portrait of the Ottoman imperial harem than has ever before been available in English.
The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher
The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher write by Douglas Scott Brookes. This book was released on 2008-11-01. The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In the Western imagination, the Middle Eastern harem was a place of sex, debauchery, slavery, miscegenation, power, riches, and sheer abandon. But for the women and children who actually inhabited this realm of the imperial palace, the reality was vastly different. In this collection of translated memoirs, three women who lived in the Ottoman imperial harem in Istanbul between 1876 and 1924 offer a fascinating glimpse "behind the veil" into the lives of Muslim palace women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The memoirists are Filizten, concubine to Sultan Murad V; Princess Ayse, daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid II; and Safiye, a schoolteacher who instructed the grandchildren and harem ladies of Sultan Mehmed V. Their recollections of the Ottoman harem reveal the rigid protocol and hierarchy that governed the lives of the imperial family and concubines, as well as the hundreds of slave women and black eunuchs in service to them. The memoirists show that, far from being a place of debauchery, the harem was a family home in which polite and refined behavior prevailed. Douglas Brookes explains the social structure of the nineteenth-century Ottoman palace harem in his introduction. These three memoirs, written across a half century and by women of differing social classes, offer a fuller and richer portrait of the Ottoman imperial harem than has ever before been available in English.
My Fair Concubine
My Fair Concubine - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook My Fair Concubine write by Jeannie Lin. This book was released on 2012-06-01. My Fair Concubine available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The USA Today–bestselling author of The Dragon and the Pearl “combines wit, seduction, skill, and intelligence in a tantalizing take on ‘My Fair Lady’” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Yan Ling tries hard to be servile—it’s what’s expected of a girl of her class. Being intelligent and strong-minded, she finds it a constant battle. Proud Fei Long is unimpressed by her spirit—until he realizes she’s the answer to his problems. He has to deliver the emperor a “princess.” In two months can he train a tea girl to pass as a noblewoman? Yet it’s hard to teach good etiquette when all Fei Long wants to do is break it, by taking this tea girl for his own . . . “Lin has a gift for bringing the wondrous and colorful world of ancient China to readers. The history and culture of the era are beautifully bound together with a classic romance theme. Those yearning for new worlds and age-old adventures will savor Lin’s novel.” —Romantic Times
The King's Concubine
The King's Concubine - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The King's Concubine write by Anne O'Brien. This book was released on 2012-06-05. The King's Concubine available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A child born in the plague year of 1348, abandoned and raised within the oppressive walls of a convent, Alice Perrers refused to take the veil, convinced that a greater destiny awaited her. Ambitious and quick witted, she rose above her obscure beginnings to become the infamous mistress of Edward III. But always, essentially, she was alone... Early in Alice’s life, a chance meeting with royalty changes everything: Kindly Queen Philippa, deeply in love with her husband but gravely ill, chooses Alice as a lady-in-waiting. Under the queen’s watchful eye, Alice dares to speak her mind. She demands to be taken seriously. She even flirts with the dynamic, much older king. But she is torn when her vibrant spirit captures his interest...and leads her to a betrayal she never intended. In Edward’s private chambers, Alice discovers the pleasures and paradoxes of her position. She is the queen’s confidante and the king’s lover, yet she can rely only on herself. It is a divided role she was destined to play, and she vows to play it until the bitter end. Even as she is swept up in Edward’s lavish and magnificent court, amassing wealth and influence for herself, becoming an enemy of his power-hungry son John of Gaunt, and a sparring partner to resourceful diplomat William de Windsor, she anticipates the day when the political winds will turn against her. For when her detractors voice their hatred,and accusations of treason swirl around her,threatening to destroy everything she has achieved, who will stand by Alice then? Includes a readers guide
