Midnight at the Pera Palace

The Birth of Modern Istanbul

By: Charles King

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

At midnight, December 31, 1925, citizens of the newly proclaimed Turkish Republic celebrated the New Year. For the first time ever, they had agreed to use a nationally unified calendar and clock.

Yet in Istanbul - an ancient crossroads and Turkey's largest city - people were looking toward an uncertain future. Never purely Turkish, Istanbul was home to generations of Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, as well as Muslims. It welcomed White Russian nobles ousted by the Russian Revolution, Bolshevik assassins on the trail of the exiled Leon Trotsky, German professors, British diplomats, and American entrepreneurs - a multicultural panoply of performers and poets, do-gooders and ne'er-do-wells. During the Second World War, thousands of Jews fleeing occupied Europe found passage through Istanbul, some with the help of the future Pope John XXIII. At the Pera Palace, Istanbul's most luxurious hotel, so many spies mingled in the lobby that the manager posted a sign asking them to relinquish their seats to paying guests.

With beguiling prose and rich character portraits, Charles King brings to life a remarkable era when a storied city stumbled into the modern world and reshaped the meaning of cosmopolitanism.

©2014 Charles King (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Rambling narratives

Really a collection interesting rambling anecdotes barely forming a coherent whole. Interesting but not that captivating.

A wide-ranging exploration of a fascinating city

This is an incredibly interesting and entertaining book. You can almost listen to it like it were a podcast, as every chapter is standalone..

A long read

The performance was great as usual. However, the story rolled on and on using names and places difficult to follow.

Excellent

Excellent history of Turkey and Istanbul, with lots of information and stories. A very engaging and enjoyable listening experience.

Interesting story of Istanbul in 20th century

Fond of these byways in history and loved hearing about so many aspects that I was unaware. A perfect book for my 90 minute morning walks. Thank you.