The Architect’s Apprentice

Sixteenth-century Istanbul, seen from the elephant stables of the imperial court, gives Elif Shafak the vantage point for The Architect's Apprentice. The novel follows Jahan, a boy who arrives at the Ottoman palace with an elephant named Chota and is drawn into the workshop of the imperial architect Mimar Sinan. Shafak sets the craft of building against the politics that surround it, so mosques, bridges and domes rise alongside rivalries, patronage and risk. Her narrative moves across decades, tracking what the apprentice learns and what the city costs him. What to expect: • Historical fiction grounded in the architecture and court life of the Ottoman empire • An animal companion whose presence shapes the boy's fortunes at court • A master-and-apprentice relationship at the centre of the story • Penguin edition of Shafak's novel in English For readers of literary historical fiction and Ottoman-era settings, published by Penguin and available at Boipoka.