Constantinople (Qustantiniyya)

The novel begins in Constantinople (occasionally referred to by its Turkish name Qustantiniyya), the home of one of the protagonists, Mahmoud Ezzedine. Ezzedine lives there with his wife and eight-year-old son and works as the doctor to the sultan, Murad III, and his family. Constantinople was part of the Ottoman Empire, a Muslim civilization, and was located in modern-day Turkey on the border of eastern Europe and Asia. The cultural differences between the Ottoman Empire and the countries of western Europe are discussed throughout the novel, with the religious differences being the most prominent. Ezzedine believes his own culture and society is much more advanced and developed than English society when he arrives there on his diplomacy mission.

As the novel progresses, Ezzedine is unable to return to Constantinople, and he is haunted by his memories of his home and family. In Part III, Chapter 1, he believes...