Set against the backdrop of urban Istanbul, history student Giselle Bennet arrives in the city to study. She is met by Hakan Aslan, a lecturer at the university who has been appointed as her chaperone. Hakan's mother holds lodgings for girl students, and Giselle accepts the offer to stay. Suffice to say, sparks of different varieties fly from the offset, but this isn't a simple love affair, or pulp fiction romance.

The Aslan family brings a new perspective into Giselle's life as she begins to discover their culture. Her journey is intimately traced as she tries to comprehend a vast, neglected city like Istanbul, a once-splendid hub of empire where "East Meets West" while trying to come to terms with her growing feelings for Hakan, whom she cannot understand at all.

It’s an engrossing novel that paints a wonderful picture of a three thousand year old city, and an even older tale of love, and where nothing is what it seems.

“Absolutely original, with a trademark style that pulls at the heartstrings, whole passages seem to jump out of the page, or leave you feeling as though you've fallen in,” comments Susan Bolton at Amazon (Click here).

But be warned – the ending it is a tear-jerker.

All proceeds that go to the author will be divided between five charities: