The Oracle of Stamboul

I thoroughly enjoyed the poetic description of Turkey during the last days of the Ottoman Empire (1877), and I found myself entranced by the character of Eleonora, the girl prodigy who has such an affinity for literature. But, by the last third of the book, I was disappointed that the author just frittered away these strengths with a plot that kept meandering and fizzling out, until the book just ended with really no purpose.

Since this was a debut novel, I'm going to keep an eye out for his next book. He obviously has a talent for writing about a place and for creating interesting characters, he just needs to focus on a path and stay with it.