The first study exploring the lives of female slaves of the Ottoman imperial court, drawing from hitherto unexplored primary sources

The first study to explore the lives of female slaves of the Ottoman imperial court, including the period following their manumission and transfer from the imperial palace. Through an analysis of a wide range of hitherto unexplored primary sources, Betül İpşirli Argıt demonstrates that the manumission of female palace slaves and their departure from the palace did not mean the severing of their ties with the imperial court; rather, it signaled the beginning of a new kind of relationship that would continue until their death. Demonstrating the diversity of experiences in non-dynastic female-agency in the early-modern Ottoman world, Life After the Harem shows how these evolving relationships had widespread implications for multiple parties, from the manumitted female palace slaves, to the imperial court, and broader urban society. In so doing, İpşirli Argıt offers not just a new way of understanding the internal politics and dynamics of the Ottoman imperial court, but also a new way of understanding the lives of the actors within it.

A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser At eighteen, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei, leaving behind her gritty East Village apartment for a palace with rugs laced with gold and trading her band of artist friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties. More than just a sexy read set in an exotic land, Some Girls is also the story of how a rebellious teen found herself-and the courage to meet her birth mother and eventually adopt a baby boy.

Reviews for Voices from the Harem If you are the parent of a teenage girl, you should put this book on your must-read list. It is a fascinating but extremely disturbing collection of anecdotes from girls who describe how they wound up in a slave harem. One reviewer said that there was "too much fantasy," but I think she completely missed the point. A number of girls have gone insane and have retreated into fantasy worlds where they feel safe, because they could no longer deal with their real lives locked away forever in a harem. -Carmen F. This was an unexpected treat, because I wasn't sure about what I was getting into. All 111 girls in Prince Ibrahim's Il Giardino Posteriore harem tell their own stories of how they wound up in the harem and what they think about it. Some of them tell really spooky stories about where they had been before, like the girl who used to belong to a guy who flunked out of medical school but bought slaves so he could operate on people anyway. Of course, most of them died, but he got to indulge his desire. Or the one who had been in a mad scientist's laboratory and he would run bizarre experiments on the unfortunate victims there. Touching, moving, heart-breaking stories. - Marie C. This is an excellent book describing the dreary, unrewarding life of Harem Slaves. Their personal stories of how the got there is both riveting and also horrifying. At times it left me shaking my head in bewilderment when some of these women described their feelings towards their en-slaver. A fascinating read even on it's own. -Flavius J. Horribly heartrending. - Jamie R. I cannot believe this still goes on to this day. Gripping, unbelievable but most of all heart breaking. I wish there was more being done to combat this. -Natalie S. Some of the women in the harem are ones that were also ones who were killed at the Rodeo in horrible ways. Some girls were killed after only being in the harem a few months for "poor performance" because they had trouble adjusting to having been kidnapped from their families and country. Prince Ibrahim killed a girl a month, just because he could. Some of the women had gone quietly insane after years of being cooped up in a pretty cage with no way out. -Karbie

Rich in visual imagery, Harem vividly depicts the exotic bazaars and dangerous alleys of the city and palace chambers brimming with conspiracy and betrayal—as well as love and redemption. A seductive and intriguing journey from the humble Persian Jewish quarter to the fascinating world of shahs, soothsayers, eunuchs, and sultanas, Harem follows three generations of strong-willed and cunning women: Rebekah—a poor girl married to the abusive blacksmith, Jacob the fatherless—who emerges from her disastrous match with a mysterious brand between her breasts; Gold Dust, Rebekah's treasured daughter, who enters the opulent and perilous world of the harem and captivates the shah with her singing bones; and Gold Dust's daughter, the revered and feared albino princess Raven, who will one day rule the empire.