The Wounds of Exile

A novella.

The poet Kipling once wrote of East and West that “never the twain shall meet”, but they do meet, and the subsequent collision has been the occasion of both misery and splendour throughout history. In Reggie Oliver’s novella The Wounds of Exile, it is 1576 and the Ottoman Empire is at its zenith, teetering on the edge of corruption and decline. We meet it through the eyes of the scholar Martin Bellorius as he accompanies his pupil, Prince Vladimir of Vallachia to the heart of the Empire in Istanbul. Vladimir has been taken as a hostage by the Sultan’s all conquering general Sokolly. What Bellorius, Vladimir and his dwarf servant see there, how they escape and the price they pay for both their captivity and release is the theme of this novella. Its descriptions are as jewel-like as a Persian miniature, its moments of drama as turbulent and vivid as a canvas by Caravaggio. Both sorcery and piracy play their part. Truly East meets West with a vengeance. A fascinating recondite chef d'ouevre from a master of Literature.

The Wounds of Exile is a sewn hardcover book of 84 pages with dust-jacket, silk ribbon, endpapers and a full-colour frontispiece. Collector's edition limited to only 100 hand numbered copies.