Thirty Years in the Harem

Melek Hanim's sensationalist account of life in Turkey contains details of political intrigue and corruption, and demonstrates the influence and mobility available to women in the official households of the Ottoman elite.

That evening proved an eventful one. Amongst the guests there was a gentleman, lately arrived in Constantinople, who had been in the suite of Lord Byron during his sojourn in Greece. He was a tall, fine-looking man, of distinguished manners, intellectual, and a good linguist, speaking Greek almost like a native. Within a brief period, he asked my mother's consent to become my suitor. She at first hesitated, an account of his being a Protestant, but eventually, acceding to his repeated wishes, we were married soon afterwards by a priest Of the Greek Church, my husband having a dislike to the ceremony being performed by a Catholic priest. This union, contracted so hastily, was not Of long duration. There existed no sym pathy between us, either in taste, temper, or habits. My husband was a serious, stern, and learned man, and I was a giddy, uneducated girl оf fifteen the disparity in our respective ages also contributed towards estrangement, and at the expiration of five years we mutually agreed on being divorced.