A Turkish Woman's European Impressions

Zeyneb Hanoum and her sister Melek Hanoum, belonging to the Ottoman Muslim nobility, were given a Western-style education by their progressive father. However, he also expected them to live the isolated lives of Ottoman ladies. So, the sisters revolted and teamed with the French author Pierre Loti, hoping that European intellectual support would speed up Ottoman social reform. Fleeing Istanbul in 1906 because of the fear of imperial retaliation, the sisters traveled in disguise to Europe and hoped to find «freedom» in the West. With Zeyneb Hanum's letters, this book challenges Orientalist stereotypes and records the dynamic engagement between Eastern and Western women at the end of the 19th century.