I have to admit that I couldn't finish this book, or even get most of the way through it. The way the author describes women is just disgusting. I can't imagine someone taking two prostitutes to bed at a time a characteristic of a worthy emperor. And the way he picks up an orphan and forces his mother and grandmother to care for her is despicable. If you want to rescue an orphan, you are a grown man with a job, do the care-giving for god's sake, it's not like this book is set in 1950. Because of this overall tone of the novel (in fact, given my background research on the author, it seems that Selcuk Altun hates his mother and uses that as a theme in his mystery stories), I could not suspend my disbelief. I wanted to like this book, had no idea about it or the author going in, but I'd much rather read Elif Shafak or Pamuk or probably any other Turkish writer. I'll never pick up one of his books again.