Jenny White is a professor of anthropology at Boston University in Massachusetts, United States of America (US). This is her fifth book and her second novel in her Kamel Pasha series. The first one was called The Sultan’s Seal. It was recognised as a Top 10 first novel and was shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award. Her academic writing concerns Turkish society and politics. The Abyssinian Proof deserves attention now four years later, as an audio-book version has just been released in late December 2011. This is a marvellous cross-cultural and religious historical thriller that you can now both read and listen to.
Jenny White brings to her writing a love of Turkey, a fascination with history and how it impacts on societies, a broad sweep of multi-cultural experience and insights, a strong sense of comparative religion, and a unique ability to consider and describe material culture. Istanbul is an old and historical city. “The Greeks built their empire on top of what came before them. Constantinople was built on the Greek ruins, and Istanbul on top of Byzantium. Nothing is wasted ... there is a lesson there” (page 63).
