Jenny White

The Winter Thief

The Winter Thief (coming to bookstores March 2010)

(New York: W. W. Norton, March 2010)

December 1888. Vera Arti carries The Communist Manifesto in Armenian through Istanbul’s streets, unaware of the men following her. The police discover a shipload of guns and the Imperial Ottoman Bank is blown up. Suspicion falls on a socialist commune Arti’s friends organized in the eastern mountains. Investigating, Special Prosecutor Kamil Pasha encounters a ruthless adversary, Vahid, the head of a special branch of the secret police. Vahid has convinced the Sultan that the commune is leading an Armenian secessionist movement and should be destroyed, along with surrounding villages. Kamil must stop the massacre, but finds himself on the wrong side of the law, framed for murder and accused of treason. His family and the woman he loves are threatened. Exploring the dark obsessions of the most powerful and dangerous men of the dying Ottoman Empire, The Winter Thief also reflects the mad idealism of these turbulent times.

Selected Works

Fiction
The Winter Thief
A bank robbery and illegal weapons lead Kamil Pasha to uncover a plan to massacre an entire valley.
The Abyssinian Proof
Nineteenth-century Istanbul thrills in this page-turner about a conspiracy to steal an ancient reliquary whose secret could change the world.
The Sultan’s Seal
A powerful blend of murder, mystery and romance set in the Ottoman court.
Essay
"Portrait of the Scholar as a Young Novelist"
A humorous look at the adventures of a scholar turned novelist.