![]() ![]() Nights of PlagueĬhronicles eight months of pestilence, lockdown and dread on a fictitious Aegean island. In 2020, reality caught up with Turkey’s Nobel laureate. Orhan Pamuk began writing his tenth novel in 2016. As for those rumours of banditry by Orthodox or Islamist renegades in the bare hills: mischievous tittle-tattle. Savour figs, oil, nuts and cheeses in the bustling markets. Admire the ancient churches and newer mosques, the neo-classical State Hall, the grand buildings funded by the sultan’s government in faraway Istanbul. The fragrances of honeysuckle, linden trees and the famous Mingherian roses waft over azure seas. A crew of Greek or Muslim boatmen will row you to the picturesque harbour of Arkaz, flanked by the radiant White Mountain and the gloomy turrets of the medieval castle. On a spring day, as the 20th century dawns, you disembark at this ‘calm and charming island’ south of Rhodes from a comfortable steamer after sailing from Smyrna, Piraeus or Alexandria. Welcome to Mingheria, ‘pearl of the Levant’. ![]()
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