The Aviary Gate

by Katie Hickman

Book Overview

Constantinople, 1599. Paul Pindar, a secretary to the English ambassador, thinks he has lost his love, Celia, in a shipwreck. Now, two years later, clues begin to emerge that she may be hidden among... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596916303
• ISBN13: 9781596916302
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

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The Aviary Gate

The Aviary Gate is a story of two romances. One takes place in ancient Constantinople, the other takes place in present day Istanbul. Elizabeth Staveley is our modern day heroine who stumbles across part of a letter detailing the story of Celia Lamprey, a young woman who was captured and sold into slavery. The story alternates between Elizabeth's trip to Istanbul (taken to further research Celia's story), and Celia's adventures in the sultan's harem in Constantinople. Overall I found both stories very interesting and entertaining.

The Aviary Gate

The Aviary Gate is the duel story of Celia Lamprey and Elizabeth Staveley. Elizabeth is a modern day scholar researching the story of Celia, a young English woman who is kidnapped following a shipwreck and forced into the harem of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Lost and presumed dead to her family and friends, Celia must learn to survive in a forbidding and strange place. As Elizabeth hunts for clues about this missing girl that time and history forgot, the story of Celia is told in all it's bewitching detail. The Sultan's mother, the Valide, has plans for Celia which will put her at the very top of the harem and directly in the path of certain danger. Plots and enemies lurk around every corner, and everyone, it seems, has a hidden agenda and harbors dangerous ambitions. After a murderous plot is unveiled, Celia realizes that no one's place in the harem is secure. Although she thinks that she must languish here forever, she is not forgotten. Someone from her past is searching for her, and he's gotten closer than she can imagine. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has more than a scholarly puzzle on her plate. She is having problems with her lover, Marius. After numerous disappointments and heartbreaks, Elizabeth must decide what is most important to her, and what must be cleared away. In an effort to gain perspective, Elizabeth travels to Istanbul, where new opportunities arise for herself and for her studies of Celia. With the clever use of the two story lines, the author is able to expound on detail and back story that the straightforward narrative of Celia's story lacks, while introducing another heroine. This dual story also had the effect of heightening the suspense of both stories, and creating a palpable anticipation in the reader. Without Elizabeth's analysis of the past, the story of Celia would have sacrificed its depth and importance. The characters of Celia and Elizabeth were very different, yet somehow reminiscent of each other. Though both lived in different times, with different political and social customs, both struggled with the unfulfilling realities of love. Both women took control of their lives, albeit in different ways, and made their own destinies. Each examined her situation and courageously fought for happiness. These shared emotions of fear, discovery and heartache spurred them onwards in their emotional growth. I particularly liked the author's description of the harem life. The clothes, jewels, and other facets of the foreign lifestyle were described with elegant confidence. It was entrancing to read about the ritual bathing and grooming, the intricate social hierarchies, and formal restrictions of behavior. The rivalries and jealousies of the women of the harem were startling in their fierceness and their resolution, and even the most docile of the women held secrets and alliances. It was often hard to gauge just who was targeting whom, and for what reason, which made this story unpredictable and satisfying. The cast of cha

Richly detailed historical and modern fiction

Elizabeth Staveley is a graduate student with a somewhat fractured love life. Her current research project uncovers a story from Constantinople in 1599 where English merchant Paul Pindar discovers that his betrothed, Celia Lamprey, whom he thought dead in a shipwreck, is living in the enclosed Harem of the Sultan. Elizabeth travels to Istanbul to pursue the story, and take a break from her unfaithful lover, in her quest to discover the fates of Paul and Celia. Elizabeth's story is intertwined with the ancient story of Celia living in the Harem and her discovery of the merchants who traveled to Constantinople with a gift for the Sultan - an exquisite musical clock. Since the clock was damaged in transit, the traders must spend extended time in the city and with a forbidden peek into the women's quarters, Paul is alerted to Celia's presence there. Celia longs to break free, however, she is trapped as a pawn amid the power struggles between the concubines, the Haseki (the Sultan's favorite) and the Valide (the Sultan's mother). Her every move is watched, her every word reported and Paul seems as lost to her as if she had died in a watery grave. The Aviary Gate is a captivating and richly detailed combination of historical and modern day fiction. The stories of Elizabeth and Celia are expertly intertwined as both heroines relentlessly seek knowledge, as well as freedom and of course, love. The sights, scents, and sounds of Constantinople come alive with Katie Hickman's descriptive prose and the reader is offered a rare glimpse into life in the Sultan's harem as well as the world of the merchants from England. The characters are expertly crafted, and like Celia, the reader is bound to be caught up in their drama, never knowing who to fully trust. Overall, this was a highly intriguing and well written book.

Intriguing story of a young English captive in the Sultans harem

In The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman, graduate student Elizabeth Staveley is researching captivity stories from the late 16th century when she comes across a four hundred year old manuscript tucked inside of a book in the Oriental Library Reading Room at Oxford University. Knowing the treasured, never before told story she is about to uncover, she transcribes the manuscript before turning it over to the library staff. While tied up in a frustrating relationship with a suspected womanizer, Elizabeth takes off from Oxford and flies to Istanbul to further research the story of Celia Lamprey, the daughter of an English sea captain who dies at sea leaving her to eventually be sold into the harem of the Sultan of Constantinople. While a controversial member of the Sultans harem, she discovers that her fiancee, Paul Pindar, whom she was supposed to marry prior to being sold into captivity, is in fact in Constantinople as the secretary to the English ambassador to deliver a gift to the Sultan thus opening English trading opportunities. The story is woven between the present day and the year 1599 in Constantinople (now present day Istanbul). The story of the secret life inside the harem has been well-researched and very intriguing, although the present day story of Elizabeth lacked a little intrigue. Other notable, fascinating characters in this book are the Valide Sultan (Sultan's mother), the black eunuch guards, and Jamal al-Andalus, an outstanding astronomer. Overall, this was a very rich, exotic, and interesting read, especially since I enjoy historical fiction.