Historical fiction is my favorite genre. I was excited to get into this story.

As much as I wanted to love this book, I have to be honest and say, I was disappointed.
It took me longer than usual to get through this book. I felt it dragged and I just could not connect with the characters.

sadly this book sounded a lot more fitting to me and my reading style in the summary as it turned out to be. I enjoyed some small moments but overall this book was just not my preferred reading style and i sadly can't really recommend it.

While I liked the book, the very ahistorical nature of it was hard for me to really get over. Considering 99% of the narrative is made up, it would have been more interesting to have the main character not be so high up the hierarchy. There are the threads of several good stories in this book but overall it seemed a little too made up for me.

It sounded very promising and it started as such as well, but by the middle, it starts to drag on and it just did not really capture my attention.

This should have been an interesting story about the woman who was kidnapped as a child in Venice and posited in the harem of Ottoman Sultan, Suleyman the Magnificent. As wife of Sultan Selim II and mother of Sultan Murad III, her story was such that it required retelling.

This version, however, did not do her justice. It attempts to be a memoir, narrated in the first person by Nurbanu, in her dotage - in fact, in the last month of her life. With a storyline that moves back and forth, from past to present, there is no clear direction, especially for those with no prior knowledge of this period or its myriad of characters. A disjointed story meant there were times when the reader had no idea where in her life we were up to: her Venetian childhood, her life in the harem, on her deathbed.

What the author does tackle, though poorly, was the controversial subject of fratricide - the custom of eliminating all possible pretenders and rivals to the throne (essentially, killing off male relatives regardless of age and mental capacity). This custom was not outlawed until the reign of Nubanu's great-grandson, Ahmed I. In this story, Nurbanu is the brains behind this custom, however, how much of this is truth and how much is fanciful story-telling as rivals had been killing each other off prior to this.

I felt no real connection with the character of Nurbanu who at times appeared older than she should, naive though aged, precocious, arrogant, domineering. Even her rival, daughter-in-law Safiye seemed a sad, tragic figure. These women ruled at a time when they were supposed to be secluded away from the outside world - this does them no justice.

"The Mapmaker's Daughter" by Katherine Nouri Hughes, courtesy of NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media. This is a work of Historical Fiction. It is set in the 16th century and tells of the life of Nurbanu, wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, The story jumps back and forth between Nurbanu, on her deathbed, telling her life story and different episodes in her life. (Apparently there is, or will be, a television series about her that has come out recently or will be coming out soon. Since I don't watch a lot of tv, this doesn't mean a lot to me.)
This book was interesting but I just couldn't get into it. Many of the names of the sultan's family are very close (or even the same, if they were named after another relative). I found myself getting confused about who I was reading about and what time that part of the story was taking place. I will say that there was a guide to who the people were but I found that I didn't really check with that since I was reading a digital copy. If I had a paper copy, I think I would've frequently been flipping back to that page and maybe it would've helped.
If you are interested in the Ottoman Empire and have some experience with some of the events of this time period, you may really like this book. I just don't have much background information about those times and places and didn't find myself as interested as I thought I would.

The Mapmakers daughter tells the story of the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. It is told from her perspective when she is older looking back on her life. I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to all fans of historical fiction.

How wonderful to read a book from such a unique perspective. This extraordinary woman's life is something that should be shared because of her experiences, achievements and intelligence.
From her childhood as a young girl growing up in Venice and then in Greece, to her kidnapping and subsequent life as wife of a Sultan, the protagonist is able to provide a viewpoint that is sympathetic to both Christian and Islamic cultures at the time. I studied Mediaeval history in the 1990's, mostly from a Christian-centric Western European perspective, so this is the first time I have read anything that sheds a light on the Ottoman Empire at that time. The novel chronicles the beginnings of tensions between Christians and Islam, not in a judgmental way, but with honesty. This novel encourages an understanding of the past that is truly enlightening. The only criticism I have is that, at times, the characters lack authenticity. I found it hard to get a handle on the character's actual personalities and motivations. Still, the book is well-written and sumptuous. It's really 3.5 stars from me.

Set in the 16th century, the story of Cecilia taken captive at a very young age from her island home into the keeping of Suleyman the Magnificient was no accident. It was a planned maneuvre because they did know the value of this very young girl.

Taking the name of Nurbanu, she rises to the most important position within the Empire as wife of the son of Suleyman who eventually becomes Sultan. She was also the mother of the future Sultan and her position of authority and power was assured. She was however the chosen one of Suleyman who felt that her character had the strength and the willpower to undertake a chore that very very few human beings could do. To put to death all brothers of the future Emperor when the moment came. He knew that this was not something that any person could do. He was assured that even though he would be dead by the time the need arose, that she would unflinchingly carry out his orders and this she did.

The story of Nurbanu was a fascinating one. Escaping the harem and being just a concubine she was chosen for her brilliance and her character as one befitting being the wife of a weak but good Sultan who could support, guide and advice him as necessary and be protective of the future Sultan as well. That she was manipulative and calculating was to the benefit of the Sultanate. Her intelligence in establishing an observatory and being proficient in the sciences was a bonus.

The story told in the form of a memoir and a confession details in descriptive detail the wars, the extent of the Sultan's empire, the workings of the court and the position of women at the time of the Sultan. The background information and setting was very detailed and gave the life of those involved with the Sultan a lot of meaning. For those who like history in any form, this was a very good read.

Goodreads review up on 3/7/2017. Review on my blog mid November. Shared on my FB page as well. Amazon is not permitting reviews as yet.

This was a very interesting idea. However, I didn't really like the writing. There really wasn't much plot to it. Overall, this novel just wasn't for me. I do recommend this for those who love L. M. Elliot, Carolyn Meyer, and Eve Edwards.

A fascinating peek into the 16th century world of the Ottoman Empire. The story is told through the memories of a woman who is dying and recalling the circumstances that brought her to where she is now. Her extraordinary life included being kidnapped by pirates, educated with a prince and joining the royal family of Suleiman "the Magnificent."

All of this as a female in the 1500s! Katherine Nouri Hughes, the author, admits that there are so few records of her life that Cecilia Baffo Veniero, called Nurbanu, was a blank slate.

But, Nurbanu actually existed. Hughes gives her a life of mystery, dizzying highs, lows, and riches beyond imagining. I loved it.

And, I learned so much from this story. Admittedly, my historical fiction preferences seem to run towards the Roman Empire or Tudor England. Perhaps it was time I branched out.

Recommended for readers who like historical fiction with a large cast of character, an exotic locale and a heroine with a quick mind.

Cecilia, an educated who was kidnapped into slavery and taken to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent, transformed herself and embraced her new life, eventually becoming Nurbanu Sultan (1525-1583), the wife of Suleiman's son and heir.. Her story, as related in a deathbed reflection on her life, adds poignant dimension to the few facts that remain about the actual Nurbanu and portrays a woman of conviction, intelligence and principals in a world where women rarely were recognized for those traits. A compelling personal narrative, full of twists and turns which keep it flowing.

This was my first time reading historical fiction about the Ottoman Empire. I'd never heard of Nurbanu before but did some research and found it very interesting and so read this book.
The Mapmaker's Daughter tells the story of Venetian born Cecelia Baffo-Veniero who is taken captive during a raid by the Ottomans. But due to her being literate and her noble birth, she is taught to read and write Arabic and soon joins the Sultan's favourite son in his studies.
The transformation of the ordinary girl Cecelia into Nurbanu Sultan, one of the most powerful women in the Ottoman Empire is a very interesting one. I found the narration a little confusing as it was hard to tell immediately when the story was switching between past and present, but the time period and political situation is vividly described and well portrayed.

I had a hard time getting into this book. It just moved so slowly. Since I did not finish the book, I do not intend to publish a review.

As the story starts it goes in no direction for far too long. But as story builds up, it becomes interesting until it starts alternating between present and past time.

Nurbanu tells her own story. Born illegitimate Venetian in the 16th century. She becomes wife of Sultan Seim II. (However, her origin is conflicting. It is not clear if she was Venetian or Greek).

While she is on Paros Island, Greece, she doesn’t notice 36 galleys with decks mounted with guns approaching the island. She is captured by Turkish corsairs and famous leader Barbarossa. They sail to Constantinople, where she is taken to Topkapi Palace, examined and picked to serve a purpose. Thanks to her education and ability to read, she is assigned to the Head Scribe.

The story goes back in time and reveals her childhood in Venice and later her father’s story. Her past being revealed in pieces is the most interesting part.

As the story goes back and forth between her childhood and present time, it becomes striking that her childhood story is underdeveloped and her present story is overdeveloped. I appreciate stories rich in historical details; however, it is not well-balanced in this story. It starts overbearing the present story. There is nothing new about the harem story, that’s why I was looking forward to her story as Head Scribe, but it continued to focus on Topkapi Palace in general.

I really don't like rating books that I DNF'd, but I feel bad not writing a review since I got this book from Netgalley. So this review is only for the first 20% or so. The rest of the book could be fabulous; I just don't know.

I can see what the author was attempting to create here, along the lines of some great works. A young (usually poor) woman ends up in trouble of some sort and eventually goes from no one to someone important over the course of her life. The first novel like this that comes to mind is Forever Amber, and I found that book hard to read as well.

The book starts, as I said above, with the main character being young, at least in the story within the story that is assumedly the majority of the book. Nurbanu is telling the story of her life now that she is an old woman, similar in form to Creation, and she, of course, starts at the beginning. And while some interesting things happened when she was young, most of it bored me silly. The setting was interesting but I couldn't bring myself to care at all about the characters. They whined and bugged me.

Part of my issue with what I read was the writing. I constantly was struggling with huge, page-long paragraphs that said little of importance and too much stuff I wasn't interested in. Early on, we're introduced to many characters, all of them with strange names and (for me) none of them easy to remember. It reminds me of older historical fiction, like the two books I already mentioned and like those by Anya Seton, where much of the books is spent building up the characters and the background and sometimes skimping on the action. Those books can work because, as modern readers, we understand that there were a lot fewer distractions back when they were written and that past generations didn't need in-your-face action on every page. While I don't many need my books to be as exciting as some, I still would have wished for some better pacing in the beginning. There just was nothing that made me care.

With all that said, there still were some really great descriptions of Venice and lots of atmosphere came through the pages. It just wasn't enough to keep me reading.

[Review posted to Goodreads today, 6/7, and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.]

Nice writing style. It's an interesting book, however too long and meandering at times.

How does an illegitimate Venetian girl become the wife of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire? What was her life like? What kind of power does she wield, and how? "The Mapmaker's Daughter," a fictionalized memoir of Cecilia/Nurbanu, the real-life Venetian captive who became wife and then mother to Sultans, seeks to answer those questions.

Cecilia/Nurbanu, in Katherine Nouri Hughes's retelling of her story, is an exceptional girl who becomes one of the most powerful women in the world. The daughter (illegitimate, we later discover) of an older Venetian nobleman and a young Venetian woman who possessed the then almost-magical ability to draw maps, Cecilia loses first her father, then her mother, and then, at the age of 12, her freedom, when Barbarossa raids her home and takes her captive, delivering her to the harem of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Cecilia is pretty, but much more importantly than that, she is literate, and not only literate, but brilliant. She is pulled out of the regular harem population and assigned to learn to write in Arabic, and then to be the study companion of the Sultan's favorite son. She converts to Islam and gains the name Nurbanu, becomes the concubine and then the wife of the heir-presumptive, and finally the Queen Mother. Her path, however, is not one of uninterrupted upward progress: there is death, the birth of daughters (a tragedy for a concubine), and a terrible dying command from Suleiman that she must decide whether to fulfill or not, knowing that either way she risks tearing apart her family and their empire.

"The Mapmaker's Daughter" is not an exceptionally long book, and the narrative style is fairly straightforward, but it is densely filled with details, making it a rich, slow read. It conveys the flavor of the 16th century, its barbarism and its simultaneous striving for science and enlightenment, with a naturalness that appears effortless but is in fact difficult to achieve. Nurbanu and her family are not modern people in 16th-century dress, but of their era, which they accept and yet also rebel against, not questioning the system of concubinage, for example, but attempting to make it more humane. Cecilia/Nurbanu herself is a brilliant creation, a gifted intellectual with a love for science who, on finding herself a concubine, manages to work within the confines that have been placed upon her to become educated herself, and to instill in her children a love for science and technology as well. The 16th century was a heady time of exploration and discovery, in the Ottoman Empire as in Europe, and Cecilia/Nurbanu's story gives a sense of a society that is still medieval, but on the brink of becoming the modern world that we know today. Fans of intellectual historical fiction, and readers looking for books on influential female figures, will be well served by this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I loved the history in this book, Istanbul's Topkapi Palace is a wonderful place to visit , to learn of its past and use was so interesting and absorbing. Excellent research .

The Mapmaker's Daughter by Katherine Nouri Hughes is a well-written book that starts off at a fast pace that draws the reader into the story. Hughes has developed characters with depth, backed up with excellent historical research, and an wonderful storyline. The reason why I gave her book a 4 star rating is some of the writing is a bit nebulous and in one instance does not quite follow historical context.

The nebulous incident concerns Safiye getting into an argument with Murad III. The character, Nurbanu, comments on the argument but is unclear about what really happened. To me the inference was Safiye was killed by Murad III but she later appears in the story as an active character. I am a pretty good reader, and normally I can figure out the storyline, but in this instance I was not clear about what really happened between Safiye and Murad III.

The incident that seemed to be out of historical context was presumed lesbian lovemaking between Nurbanu and Esther Handali. In the story Nurbanu and Esther kiss mouth-to-mouth, bodies together, ankles locked. I suspect Islam does not condone homosexual affairs and including this incident in the book is out of historical context, if I understood the writing correctly. This ruined the believability of the historic novel as I believe historic novels should be written to match the time period they reflect. I do know historic novels take artistic license when it comes to history, and they are not supposed to be historically accurate, but there has to be a believability factor. The rest of the sexual incidents and romantic encounters seem to follow historic context.

I loved the illustrations found sprinkled throughout the book. I also loved the strong, intelligent character originally named Cecillia Baffo Veniero, who later took the name Nurbanu. She was kidnapped by Ottoman soldiers, taken to an Ottoman harem, educated thanks to the Sultan and later married Selim II.

Nurbanu's life is a colorful and unusual one as she was educated. She was also a strong leader. Both qualities were not typically found during that time period.

Recommend with caveats given.

Review written after downloading a galley from Net Galley.