‘The Past Tense Of Youth’ on ‘Blurb’

On January 19, 2016December 11, 2016 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Film Noir, Romantic interludes, stories of mystery and romance

Yes I have written a novel. What is it about? Well it is, of course, set in another era. The glamorous era of the 1930s to be exact. Dinner parties, glamorous gowns and glamorous locations.

The story begins in the courtyard of an ancient palace with a young bride being lured back in time by a mysterious song. then moves back to the Hydro Majestic Hotel in ‘Medlow Bath ‘Blue Mountains’ Australia where she first met the man she would marry.

A beautiful setting for two beautiful people from different cultural backgrounds to fall in love. The couple married on the grounds of the bride’s stately home in Cumbria England and are in the third week of their honeymoon in a distant land. The land where the groom was born. Istanbul Turkey.

The palace is ‘Topkapi Palace’ the seat of the Ottoman Empire and the young bride has just left a guided tour in order to explore the harem quarters which are off limits to tourists. It is here that the story begins to twist and turn as the reader is taken back to 1908 into the days of concubines and favourites in the last days of the Ottoman Empire and then involved in a scurrilous love affair between a gypsy and handsome soldier who looks remarkably like the groom who is still on a tour of Topkapi Palace. While he is trying to find his wife she is trying to find out why the gypsy has lured her back in time and why her husband does not recognise her. This is actually only the first half and if you would like to find out what happens you can purchase the novel from ‘Blurb Books’. Just google the title and you’ll find it. Apart from being a romance my novel is also a mystery. I have tried to evoke a film noir style of writing. Happy Reading.

The Past Tense Of Youth: Between Worlds

On October 1, 2014February 20, 2015 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, stories of mystery and romance

A golden sunset enveloped the gently undulating sea of Marmara as I stood at the top of the staircase staring down into the courtyard. The tour was now coming to a close and I could hear the guide leading the tourists toward the main gate. I could not bring myself to go down the stairs and join them. I looked back along the corridor and saw that the door was still open. I longed to go back but could not do that either. I was caught between the two worlds and I had to choose. I heard Gerald’s voice as he spoke to the guide demanding to know what had happened to me. The guide came through the archway with Gerald following close behind.” Where is she I have been searching every room and haven’t been able to find my Emma. We can’t leave her here. Well why won’t you do something”? The guide looked him up and down with a knowing smile. ” Museums are strange places are they not? You tourists who come here with your state of the art cameras always ready to steal what is in the past think that you own the world. Well let me tell you there are some things best left alone.”

Gerald grabbed him by the arm and shook him. ” I haven’t a clue what your gabbling about. Where is my wife?” The tour guide looked up to the top of the staircase and stared right at me. ” Tsk.” He shrugged and continued toward the gate with the others not far behind. As Gerald made his way to the staircase where I still stood with a questioning look on his face Rana appeared behind him. She began to sing that same song which had mesmerised me and which was now having the same effect on my husband. He turned his face away from me and moved toward her. She took his hand and led him toward the gate. Still I could not move. It was then that I remembered the painting.

I ran back to the room and ripped the painting from the wall. I wanted my own world, my own time, my own life. For the first time ever I realised that my world …. the world of Emma from Cumberland, was every bit as incredible as the world inhabited by Rana. She had taught me that everything in life can be bought and sold except for one thing. The human spirit. It was this that no painting could ever restore or reproduce. By entering that room I had freed her from ever being sold again and that is why she was able to leave the painting. I was to be the substitute. Gerald’s love had been too strong, however, and had drawn me back to my own time. Because my mind had kept pace with both worlds during my sojourn back into the harem my spirit could not be broken and no painting could steal my breath of life. As I began to claw at the painting it began to erode in my hands leaving me free of her world. The problem was that she was now in mine and I knew that I must act quickly .

As I moved to leave the room once more I found my feet were tangled in something. I looked down and there was the veil wrapped around my ankles. I stooped to pick it up. The veil was the bridge between our two worlds. It was something we had shared Rana and myself. This was the veil that had covered her face from men and this was the veil that had transported me back. As I looked at the veil it occurred to me that maybe we were not so different after all. Had I not worn a veil similar in length and texture to it on my wedding day? Indeed had there been no wedding there would have been no honeymoon in Turkey and I my knowledge of the strange eastern Paradise ,which is itself between two worlds ,would have remained just words on the pages of books devoured while waiting for the next big adventure.

I took the veil in my hands and left the room. I hoped that they had not yet reached the cliff top above the sea. I ran as if i had fire beneath the souls of my feet. Surely she would not try to take him from me. No she would keep him for me as I had done for her. She had said that she never wanted to belong to any man again hadn’t she? Maybe her only aim was to take him back for all eternity back to the world I had just left. It was this thought that spurred me on. I knew I must coax her back with the very veil that I now so tightly clasped wringing it back and forward through my hands.

Down the stairs, through the courtyard , past the princes kiosks where I had witnessed tearful reunions between mothers and sons, past the sultans kiosk, the schoolrooms,the armoury, the bakeries, the long hall where the fountains now were dry and on through the the gates. There were no guards lying in wait for me, no valide sultan monitoring my every move and no carriages bearing female cargo to the sultan . I was home free but all fell strangely silent in the receeding embers the fading sun. When I reached the gates which were thankfully still open my parents were waiting. I passed them and ran toward the cliff ledge. I looked down and there they were hand in hand wondering along the shore oblivious to anyone other than themselves. ‘ Would she again run into the sea? Would she try to take him with her this time?

“There you are my dear. Feeling better?” My father asked. ” Gerald has been so worried”

” He’s wondering aimlessly down there. Why don’t you join him?”

It was obvious they could not see Rana. Just as I was about to move toward the stairs leading down to the shoreline the tour guide returned. He walked straight passed us through the gates and waited just beyond as though he was expecting someone to join him. Suddenly I felt a breeze as Rana brushed passed me. The tour guide came to meet her and as she joined him inside the gates were closed to us. Gerald was be now climbing the stairs built into the cliff face and was fast approaching us. For him it was as if nothing had happened at all.

” There you are. I’ve been searching for you all over.”

I did not have the heart to tell him where I had been or of what had happened . Only time would tell whether or not he had been as aware of this open portal into a time past as I had been. I hoped that this would be the end of it and we would be free to love only each other but somehow I knew that Rana would return.

Meanwhile my parents were still waiting patiently and it was time to return home to the little apartment in Gostepe on the Asian side. I was now as excited about leaving Topkapi as I had been when I first glimpsed the palace.

© Renee Dallow ( Hybiscus Bloom ) 1/10/2014

The Past Tense Of Youth: Freedom

On July 27, 2014October 1, 2014 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Now and then, stories of mystery and romance

Freedom had come at last but at what cost? Now came the painful realisation that the lives we had entwined were about to change forever. I disengaged myself from Gurel’s arms and backed out of the room leaving him alone with his gypsy love. Deeply in love and content in each other’s secrets. I needed time to gather my thoughts and walked down the stairs back into the courtyard of the concubines now so quiet that even the sound of slippers could not be heard on the lonely cobble stones. I traced the winding paths through to the golden way where once carriages arrived and where coins were thrown to those in favour. I sat on a bench and pondered the meaning of all that had happened. A feeling of overwhelming peace and serenity overcame me. All was as it was meant to be.

As I peered through the arch at the passage which lead to the golden way I imagined myself there once again as a child holding out my hands and waiting for Hamid to throw me a coin. Emine’s memory not mine. My memories were of a childhood surrounded by books. Yet somehow these memories had become joined . Emine and Emma were one and the same. Just as this revelation dawned on me I was convinced I could hear voices. The voices of children. Young boys were being led toward the gates by their mothers amidst squeals of delight. They were followed discreetly by their eunuchs and guards. These were the princes who had been locked away for years on end for fear they would rise up against the sultan and steal the empire. I wondered what would become of them and smiled at each one as they passed me. Maybe I too could just simply walk out the gates through the golden corridor and find myself on the streets outside. Strange that I would even think this possible at all as I had spent so much time longing to return to my own time in my own country and I might add with my own husband.

I rose and started toward the passageway when someone grabbed me by the arm. It was Rana with Gurel following close behind her. Her face was suddenly gentle with the humility of a grazing deer. She took my hand and turned it toward her so that she could see my palm. She stroked the lines from left to right. ” I see mountains … blue mountains …… their peeks and plateaus reaching ever higher into the heaven of your choosing. It shall be many years before you find this heaven but you have found something in the mountains that will never leave you. It is love that you have found just like the love that found me. We share this love you and I. We three will always be together even if our lives no longer meet “. She linked her arm in mine , held out her other hand to Gurel and the three of us walked through the golden way and on through the gates together. We wandered the grounds enjoying the warm summer evening breezes and the chance to languish under the shade of the cedars without the restrictions of high walls blocking the sights and smells of the Bosphorous. What a magnificent sight it was with the ships sailing by, the fluttering wings of birds free to fly to the destiny of their choice and of crickets chirping in the long grass. The three of us watched the world go by in carriage song amidst the constant hum of human progress.

We were all three lying there under the tree when Rana rose from her cradle in Gurel’s arms”. I shall never again be the property of another. I am a gypsy. Free forever. Come dance with me”. She pulled Gurel up from his shaded resting spot and goaded him into the dance. she sang with the voice of a nightingale and laughed with the gurgling sound of a meandering stream. She twirled her skirts and writhed her hips with passionate abandon stomping her bare feet upon the dusty earth beneath. She was leading Gurel to the cliffs edge in her dance of the temptress and he was happy to follow as if he were being pulled by invisible strings. I was content to watch and thought nothing of it until I heard the cry. Suddenly I saw her push Gurel back with all the force of a raging bull and leap into the sea. I ran as fast as I could toward her. Gurel was on his knees sobbing as the crowd gathered. I looked over the cliff to see her body floating lifeless in the tide. But as I gazed on and the waves washed her out to sea she appeared to swim out toward the islands with her dark hair wild in the wind. I turned to Gurel and held him close to my heart. The island shapes became mountain peaks in the lavender blue tinge of evenings grasp.

The Past Tense Of Youth: The New favourite

On February 9, 2014October 9, 2014 By Renee Lou Dallow ( Bourgeoise Bloomers )In Changing the world, Now and then, stories of mystery and romance

It was late afternoon and our precession had moved through the entrance gate and on past the imperial council chambers where various statesmen awaited an audience with the sultan. Behind the council chambers was the tower of justice and the armoury heavily patrolled by armed guards no doubt anticipating a break from their duties so that they could raid the nearby bakeries for fresh loaves and simit rings. We would continue on through the main gate to the courtyard of the concubines which is where I would alight the carriage along with my consorts and assigned guards and eunuch. Behind us came the servants carrying trunks loaded with the fabrics and other trinkets purchased from the markets. As we moved toward the pavilion we were greeted by pigeons playing some sort of game.

They would fly toward us and as soon as we put out our hands to provide a safe perch they would fly off . Were they carrying messages? Maybe there was a way afterall to contact the world outside. All the while I watched as Rana’s carriage continued on to the other end of the palace grounds. The courtyards and apartments of the favourites. I wondered how long it would be before we saw each other again. Not long I surmised as I too would be moving into their quarters though I doubted the sultan would have eyes for any woman other than Rana once he had summoned her. The three who had shared Rana’s carriage were now being led through the corridor to the bath house. I would be joining them after a meeting with the valide sultan. The others were now openly hostile toward me. ” You with your yellow hair pale as the moon ….. what makes you so special? Little comedienne with your tricks and your hidden curves …. why not fly away with your pigeons? ….. oh maybe you can’t fly at all …. maybe you are not so clever as you thought …. You may be favourite now but it won’t last Emine” I made my way to the imperial hall for my meeting with the valide sultan under guard of course.

My eunuch ,whose name was Jamahl , carried the chosen fabrics for her perousal. ” You have done well my dear” , she purred as as she traced her elegant but wrinkled little hand decked in golden rings, across the silk brocade. She smiled her cheshire smile and waved me out of her presense. Just as I reached the door she spoke again. ” You have been assigned to the new girl … Rana …. is it? ” I turned and smiled. I could not believe my luck. ” Yes I believe that is her name your excellency” . She turned away from me then toward the window from which she could see the Imperial hall. ” I believe she is just now being presented. ” I moved toward the valid sultan hoping for a glimpse. She did not turn again but in a very firm voice bade me leave immediately. I met with Jemahl who waited outside in the courtyard and was escorted to the bath house where I would be bathed, perfumed and robed before being moved to the court of the favourites.

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