Book of Hafsa – Chapter Four

Crimea

Hafsa continues recounting her journey across the Black Sea after being taken from her homeland in Abkhazia. Aboard a slave ship bound for Crimea, she travels among other Circassian captives, uncertain of what fate awaits them. Upon arriving in the Crimean Khanate under cover of night, Hafsa and the other girls are quietly purchased by palace eunuchs and transported through the dark streets toward the Khan’s palace—where a new and unfamiliar world awaits them.

The Book of Hafsa is a historical fiction novel (by me) following the life of Hafsa Sultan, the consort of Selim I and the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Set during the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the story explores palace politics, dynastic paranoia, love, survival, and the hidden world of the imperial harem through Hafsa’s own eyes.