Description

A small undercover unit of hand-picked, trusted warriors is assembled to track down the thieves who have stolen the Staff held by Moses as he parted the Red Sea. They are the `Ruzgar’ – the `Wind’ – and like the wind, they travel silently and unseen. Awa, the studious daughter of a noble family from the Songhai Empire in West Africa, was kidnapped and enslaved by Moroccans after the disastrous Battle of Tondibi. Awa is a whirling and deadly force when she has a scimitar in her hand. Will, who was snatched from his home in London at the age of 5, is now 16 and a galley slave on board a Moroccan warship. Joining the Ruzgar turns him into a man. He and Awa become fast friends. The other comrades are Turkish, Greek and Albanian, all led by the charismatic Bosnian Mehmed Konjic, a wise counsellor and natural hero. The Ruzgar’s pursuit of a network of rogues takes them across continents and into many perilous situations. The action is fast and furious, with dire situations requiring a Houdini to escape from . . . set against thrilling backdrops including deserts, oceans, dungeons, the roofs of the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, the canals of Venice and the court of Queen Elizabeth I at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey. The task to reclaim the Staff is a mission that is (almost) impossible . . .

Publisher Review

`Three huzzahs for this scintillating new take on the late Tudor period: a rip-roaring, erudite, cosmopolitan pageturner peppered with the wisdom of ages and glowing with the ruby light of a compassionate heart - a jewel no snaggle-toothed Queen or vainglorious Sultan can buy' Naomi Foyle, author, The Gaia Chronicles; `A girl-warrior of Songhai nobility captured in Africa ... an English boy enslaved from the age of five ... a stolen religious relic that leads to an international chase.... In A Tudor Turk, Rehan Khan pulls off a rare literary coup. It's a masterly meld of riveting historical background, characters whose emotions blaze from the pages, a balance between an unlikely (but likeable) male and female duo, and settings so vivid you will think you're hearing and smelling the scenes. This is confident, perfectly paced storytelling, a rip-roaring adventure full of narrative surprises. The pace does not let up from page one, and by the conclusion readers young and old will be eager for more from Will and Awa!' Peter Lerangis, author, Seven Wonders and Max Tilt series; `In these uncertain Brexit days, A Tudor Turk's portrayals of sixteenth-century prejudice against Ottoman Turks, an ageing queen named Elizabeth, and England as an isolated and despised European outpost cannot but find resonance. To borrow Jo Cox's words, the novel shows that different cultures share "more in common than that which divides us"'. Claire Chambers, York University.