Summary

Part I, “Mahmoud Ezzedine, 1591” begins with a quote about Queen Elizabeth I's hatred of Catholicism and her appreciation for the Turkish sultan and the “Mussulmans” (1).

Chapter 1 begins in 1591 in Constantinople. Sultan Murad the Great was preparing to send an ambassador to England, which the Turks viewed as a “barbarian island” (3). In Chapter 2, Mahmoud Ezzedine, the sultan's doctor, prepared to accompany the ambassador and his chief advisor, Cafer bin Ibrahim, on this mission. He was saddened to leave his wife, Saruca, and their young son, Ismail.

In Chapter 3, the Turkish entourage arrived in England and conducted the diplomacy for which they were sent. Dr. Ezzedine drew sketches of his surroundings to give to his son and recalled Ismail's confusion about scale when looking at a globe, trying to imagine all of the Turkish people living on one small dot.

In Chapter 4, Cafer...