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Mark of the
Crescent

Ayman Kole

 

Subject: Fiction  - Pseudo-Messiahs.
               Turkey--History--Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918

ISBN:      978-1-922238-10-8 

RRP:       AU$26.99 (paperback)

 

“Do you know where your sons and daughters are?

If they’re with the Messiah, God help them…”


Mark of the Crescent is set in the 17th Century Ottoman Empire, taking place in many exotic and culturally diverse locations such as Istanbul, Izmir, Cyprus, Cairo, Gaza, Hebron and Jerusalem. It tells the story through the eyes of Kansu – a Janissary. The Janissaries were Christian-born boys torn from their families, conscripted to be raised according to the Islamic faith as professional soldiers, guardians of the Sultan and his lands. Yet, Kansu has always felt much different to his peers. He bears a crescent scar on his right shoulder. Its meaning is shrouded in mystery. He is unaware of his origins — that of an Ottoman prince - whisked away from the harem’s fatal intrigues where his mother, a concubine to the Sultan, had been executed. One day, the battle-hardened Kansu is given a dangerous mission: to investigate and arrest a man who claims to be the Messiah…

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