The Palace of Tears On a balmy autumn afternoon in Paris, in the year 1868, young winemaker Casimir de Chateauneuf wanders through the hollow arcades of the Palais Royal. Browsing in a small shop filled with curiosities from the Orient, he spies a cache of fine miniature portraits. Above all others, an ivory-skinned beauty captivates him. Her eyes--one blue, the other yellow. That night they pursue Casimir in his dreams, as one burning question consumes him: Who is she? Thus begins Casimir's dizzying quest for the object of his obsession. Forsaking his family, his vocation, his country, Casimir sails from Marseilles to North Africa, plunging into a strange new world with blind faith in destiny. His journey leads him to Istanbul, "city of the world's desire." There, in a deserted palace of the former sultan, is hidden the woman of his reveries, the woman with one blue eye, the other yellow. To touch her is forbidden. But in this city of passion, in a Palace of Tears, Casimir is about to discover what it will mean to make a dream real...and what awaits him when his lover is set free. Filled with breathtaking visions -- from the lavish courts of the Second Empire in France to a boat ride along the Bosphorus, from a sultan's hushed harem to two lovers locked in a long night of passion -- The Palace of Tears is an epic adventure of the heart, as enthralling as a romantic opera, as tantalizing as The Arabian Nights, a lush and hypnotic meditation on the forces of history, fate, and love.

The Palace of Tears

Literature & Fiction

CROUTIER, Alev Lytle

United States

DELACORTE PRESS

It is 1868. On a balmy autumn afternoon in Paris, young winemaker Casimir de Châteauneuf wanders into a small shop filled with curiosities from the Orient. There he spies a cache of fine miniature portraits. Above all others, an ivory-skinned beauty captivates him. Her eyes ... one blue, the other yellow. That night they pursue Casimir in his dreams, as one burning question consumes him: Who is she? Thus begins Alev Croutier’s lush, stirring adventure of the heart — a mesmerizing tale of forbidden passion, true love, and destiny. For Casimir will forsake his family, his vocation, and his country to find the object of his obsession. His journey will lead him across desert and sea, from the Royal Court in Paris to a sultan’s palace in Istanbul. And there he will find the woman of his reveries, the woman with one blue eye, the other yellow. But in this city of passion, in a Palace of Tears, Casimir is about to discover what it will mean to make a dream real ... and what awaits him when his lover is set free.

The Palace of Tears: A Novel

Delta

Illustrated with mythological, neoclassical and romantic masterpieces, spa/travel posters of the "Belle Epoque" and other popular period advertising art, as well as contemporary photographs, this book traces the evolution of spas. Opening with prehistoric sacred springs and Roman baths, it moves on to the fabulous watering holes of elite society in Europe, Asia and the US, including such legendary spas as Evian and Vichy in France; Baden Baden in Germany; Baden and Badragaz in Switzerland; Spa in Belgium; Marienbad in Czechoslovakia; Bath in Britain; Montecatini Terme, San Pellegrino and Salsomaggiore in Italy; Beppu and Fukata in Japan and Saratoga and Calistoga in the US. By way of prelude to this history of health-seeking and hedonism, "Taking the Waters" dives into the mythological and religious history of water - including water deities, sprites, mermaid, ritual baths, sacred rivers - and concludes by bringing this most universal of subjects up to date with a guide to the world's most exclusive spas such as the Golden Door and Cal A Vie in the US and Rancho La Puerta in Mexico.

Taking the Waters

Random House Value Publishing

Seven Houses chronicles the lives and secrets of four generations of remarkable women, sweeping readers from the last days of the Ottoman monarchy to Turkey's transformation into a republic. It is the saga of a silkmaking family as told through the seven houses they occupied. From a grand villa in Smyrna in the early years of the twentieth century to a silk plantation in the foothills of Mount Olympus, from a tiny house in a sleepy town to an apartment in a modern urban high-rise, the family's dwellings reflect its fortune's rise and fall as communal baths and odalisques give way to movies and cell phones. We begin in 1910 with Esma, a young widow who defies tradition to live independently with her two young sons. Against the backdrop of World War I, her love affair with their tutor brings tragedy as well as joy in the shape of daughter Aida, whose otherworldy beauty is a source of both pleasure and hardship. There is Esma's granddaughter, Amber, whose sheltered childhood on a silk plantation undergoes a wrenching transition to urban Ankara to the beat of Elvis Presley on the transistor radio. And then there is Nellie, Amber's American-born daughter whose return to Ismir brings the novel - and the family - full circle.

Seven Houses: A Novel

Literary

Atria

"An exotic and beautiful story" (Isabel Allende) chronicling the lives of four generations of remarkable women, sweeping readers from the last days of the Ottoman monarchy to Turkey's transformation into a republic and the present day backlash. "A highly imaginitive family saga...Croutier's measured prose is artistic and sensuous" (San Francisco Chronicle) as the story of a silkmaking family iss told through the houses they occupied. From a grand villa in Smyrna in the early twentieth century to a silk plantation in the foothills of Mount Olympus, from a tiny house in a sleepy town to an apartment in a modern urban high-rise, the family's dwellings reflect its fortune's rise and fall. As communal baths and odalisques give way to movies and cell phones, four unique yet powerfully linked women experience all of life's hardships and pleasures.

Contemporary

Washington Square Press

224p red blind stamp decorative cloth with gilt lettering to spine, no jacket, as new condition, untouched, colour illustrations, gilt endpapers

HAREM : The World Behind the Veil

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Abbeville Press

A fascinating illustrated history of one of the strangest, and cruelest, cultural institutions ever devised. A worldwide best seller, translated into twenty-five languages. I was born in a konak (old house), which once was the harem of a pasha,” writes Alev Lytle Croutier. People around me often whispered things about harems; my own grandmother and her sister had been brought up in one.” Drawing on a host of firsthand accounts and memoirs, as well as her own family history, Croutier explores life in the world’s harems, from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, focusing on the fabled Seraglio of Topkapi Palace as a paradigm for them all. We enter the slave markets and the lavish boudoirs of the sultanas; we witness the daily routines of the odalisques, and of the eunuchs who guarded the harem. Here, too, we learn of the labyrinthine political scheming among the sultan’s wives, his favorites, and the valide sultanathe sultan’s motherwhose power could eclipse that of the sultan himself. There were the harems of the sultans and the pashas, but there were also middle-class” harems, the households in which ordinary men and women lived out ordinaryalbeit polygamouslives. Croutier reveals their marital customs, child-rearing practices, and superstitions. Finally, she shows how this Eastern institution invaded the European imaginationin the form of decoration, costume, and artand how Western ideas, in turn, finally eroded a system that had seemed eternal. Juxtaposing a rich array of illustrationsWestern paintings, Turkish and Persian miniatures, family photographs, and even film stillsCroutier demystifies the Western erotic fantasy of the world behind the veil.” This revised and updated 25th anniversary edition of Harem includes a new introduction by the author, revisiting her subject in light of recent events in Turkey, and the world.

Harem: The World Behind the Veil

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Drawing on a host of intimate first-hand accounts and memoirs, Harem explores life in the world's harems, from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, focusing on the fabled and ever-mysterious Seraglio of Topkapi Palace as a paradigm for all. 125 illustrations, 50 in full color.

Women's Studies

Bloomsbury Pub Ltd

The exotic, cruel, yet fascinating world of the harem is recreated in a history that makes use of firsthand accounts

Illustrated with a diverse collection of historic and contemporary artwork, a study of the spiritual and sensual attractions of water traces the evolution of spas from prehistoric times to the present. By the author of Harem.

Taking the Waters: Spirit, Art, Sensuality

Abbeville Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CROUTIER, Alev Lytle. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by CROUTIER, Alev Lytle

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CROUTIER, Alev Lytle. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Palace of Tears

The Palace of Tears: A Novel

Taking the Waters

Seven Houses: A Novel

Seven Houses: A Novel

HAREM : The World Behind the Veil

Harem: The World Behind the Veil

Harem: The World Behind the Veil

Harem: The World Behind the Veil

Taking the Waters: Spirit, Art, Sensuality