Harem

This novel ties together the lives of a girl who is taken from her family when she is 7 years old to be raised in the Ottoman harem and a young woman who is getting married at about that same time. Their stories are told side by side, smoothly shifting back and forth between narratives and their connection is tantalizingly concealed until late in the story. There is a moment in the book when one character appears in the other character’s story and the reader discovers how the two stories, seemingly isolated, were in fact connected from the beginning. Though they have lead more or less completely separate lives, they learn the same lesson and are able to ultimately make peace with themselves.