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Last Train to Istanbul

A Novel

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Last Train to Istanbul

By: Ayşe Kulin John, John W. Baker - translator
Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri
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About this listen

Born into privilege to one of the last Ottoman pashas, beautiful, spirited Selva is the brightest jewel in her father’s household - until she falls in love with Rafael Alfandari. Though Turkey has long been a safe haven for Jews, marriage between a high-ranking Muslim girl and a Jewish boy is strictly forbidden. Yet young love will not be denied, and Selva and Rafael defy their parents and marry, fleeing to Paris in hopes of a better life - only to find themselves trapped in the path of the invading Nazis.

But in the midst of darkness shines a beacon of hope: A handful of courageous Turkish diplomats, protected only by the tenuous neutrality of their homeland, hatch a daring plot to spirit the exiled lovers and hundreds of innocent Jews to safety. Together, they will traverse a war-torn continent, crossing enemy lines and risking everything in one last, desperate bid for freedom.

©2002 Ayşe Kulin (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc. 20th Century Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Multicultural War & Military War Ottoman Empire Romance Imperialism Middle East Middle Ages

Critic Reviews

"Ayşe Kulin is a clever writer. She draws the reader into the story of the life and loves of a Turkish family in wartime, and by the time the reader realizes that she has also cranked up the tension with a rescue plot, it is too late to put the book down unfinished. For aficionados of wartime novels, as well as for anyone glued to his or her seat watching the film Argo, this is a must read." (Helen Bryan, best-selling author of War Brides and The Sisterhood)
All stars
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I found myself unable to care what happened to any of these characters. In particular the sisters. One is just outright obnoxious, more interested in pretty much everything other than protecting her son. The other is unable to love her own daughter because when she was growing up her younger sister was slightly taller and therefore her jealousy from childhood has left her emotionally stunted. The narration lacked emotion. The random rape in the train carriage, really, was that necessary???

Unsympathetic characters

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Loved this book, the accents were so perfect I could listen to the story without stopping.

Lovely story. I would recommend it to anyone.

Great Book

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I enjoyed the storyline & the narrator was excellent. At one point I felt the story was predicable. But OT was still an enjoyable journey with the families from France to Turkey.

An enjoyable love story during WWII

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a truly moving story of human spirit and hope for the future I was truly moved by this story

masterpiece

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The stories of the characters' lives are set against historic reference with skill. A captivating tale of humanity and diplomacy.

Interesting and captivating

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an interesting story that has made me keen to learn about the history of turkey and the involvement in ww2

step into history

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It takes a while to get going, and the writing style is a bit choppy in places, but that could be down to translation.
I never really connected with any of the characters, some because I didn't particularly like them and others because they seemed to be randomly introduced to the story and never developed into anything that was really relevant?
Certain elements seemed unnecessary - Sabiha, her daughter, and the psychoanalyst - what was the point? The rape on the train, why, the train journey was harrowing enough and the story never followed through on it anyway. I felt the train journey was a very significant part of the story, yet it was crammed in at the end of the book and left a lot of loose ends.
However, as a historical fiction book it was quite interesting and did give some insight into the plight of the Turkish people during the war.

Bit of a plod...

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The last train to Istanbul is based on the historic fact of many Jews finding refuge via the stance that Turkey took during World War 2. The story is very much focused on individual lives somewhat flatly recounted. Some
Details are irrelevant (such
As Sabiha and her husband’s relationship and eventual making up, the role of the psychologist, David’s role seems to
Be there purely to make the point of the conditions in the concentration camps but there was no other connection between him and other passengers.

My main issue was however the mundane uninteresting language of the story, it felt flat . I realise it may have Ben the translation….

A fairly ordinary read.

Somewhat flat rendering

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Any additional comments?

It seemed to drag on and was quite boring for most of it. I liked the story though but it seemed Selwa was a bit irritating.

Didn't get interesting until two thirds in

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