From the tips of the gilded minaret spires and ornate mosque domes to odiferous slums and one-room shanties, Istanbul stands alone in Elif Shafak’s THE ARCHITECT’S APPRENTICE. In parts, this beautifully written novel is a love letter from the Turkish writer to her country’s capital. At its best, though, it is a sweeping portrait of the Ottoman Empire at its height.

In 16th-century Turkey, Sultan Suleiman (known to posterity as Suleiman “the Magnificent”) rules with an iron fist. Among the lowliest of his subjects is Jahan, an Indian-born mahout, or elephant rider and tamer, who has taken on the charge of caring for Chota, a rare white elephant. Young Jahan is plunged into the politics and dangers of the sultan’s court from the moment he steps into Istanbul, but just as many opportunities await him as perils.

"Just as Jahan and Sinan construct mosques that will survive the ages to become wonders of the world, Shafak has built a novel full of rich description and characterization that you won’t soon forget."

As the novel unfolds, bits and pieces of Jahan’s past are revealed to the reader. As a result, sometimes THE ARCHITECT’S APPRENTICE reads like an overly in-depth guidebook to Renaissance Istanbul; other times, like a compendium of fairy tales. We literally see the city through Jahan’s eyes and learn the ins and outs of the capricious court as he steps lightly around officials and elephants alike. That negatively affects the book’s pacing in places, as the author focuses on each interaction in such depth that the reader is bursting to turn the page by the time a paragraph is done.

Jahan manages to befriend both the lowly (the Romani residents of Istanbul) and the high (the sultan’s daughter and the sultan himself). His relationship with each character is carefully drawn and realistic. As he progresses in his life and career, these bonds grow, weaken and change. Perhaps most worthwhile of all his companions is his surrogate father and master, Mimar Sinan, who sees in Jahan a passion for architecture that no one else has bothered to recognize. In doing so, Sinan almost becomes the reader, looking deeper into our hero’s mind and soul than anyone else has done yet, and guides him along his life’s path.

That journey is fraught with distrust, conspiracy and death. Shafak stretches the possibility of truth a bit too much for this writer’s taste in an attempt to tie all her loose threads together by the last page. Though her portrayal of Istanbul can be heavy-handed, her rendition of its decadent, brilliant and corrupt sultanate is truly masterful. Just as Jahan and Sinan construct mosques that will survive the ages to become wonders of the world, Shafak has built a novel full of rich description and characterization that you won’t soon forget.