'A love letter to this ancient capital...a work of storytelling skill and passion, a handsome tribute to a city that always transfixes'

The Times

'The author is a sensitive and patient presence, piecing together these stories over many pages. Spending time at a teahouse, an animal shelter and a former Dervish hall that is now an academic institution, he brings to life the rich variety of these neighbourhoods. While Christie-Miller's focus remains on the streets surrounding the walls, his characters offer broader insights into Turkey's social and political make-up. He is also sensitive to the poetry of his surroundings, captured in moments of lyrical precision'

Financial Times

'Alexander Christie-Miller is an exceptionally fluent and imaginative writer who knows Turkey intimately'

Max Hastings

'An absorbing and thoroughly engaging study of modern-day Turkey. His research is first class, and he writes very well...Christie-Miller's love of the city and its people shines through this wonderful book'

Literary Review

'Between the ancient minarets that punctuate the city's skyline, the author seeks out the real soul of Istanbul in its diverse peoples, past and present, by raising up voices rarely heard'

National Geographic Magazine

'A compendium not only of Turkey's unavoidable social and political deterioration over the last decade, but also a sober inquiry into the violence of the past, both recent and distant... A catalogue of ruins: The ruins of a political present that overlaps with the physical erosion of the Byzantine and Ottoman walls that envelop it'

Markaz

Author Biography: Alexander Christie-Miller was born in Wiltshire in 1982, and studied English Literature and Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Between 2010 and 2017 he worked as a journalist in Istanbul, where he was correspondent for The Times. His work has also appeared in Newsweek, The Atlantic, Der Spiegel, and the White Review among other publications