The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay

Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay

Trebizond is the English name for the Turkish city of Trabzon, which is situated on the coast of the Black Sea along the old Silk Road. Rose Macaulay's novel, The Towers of Trebizond, describes the experiences of a small group of English travelers -- the narrator Laurie, her aunt Dot, and an Anglican priest with the unlikely name of Father Chantry-Pigg -- in the post-War years. 

Review

This meandering novel could easily be mistaken for a travelogue, and indeed much of it is autobiographical. Laurie, Dot, and the Father are all members of the British aristocratic intelligentsia who loved to explore the Levant (and other remote places of the world) and write down their impressions. Throughout the story, Laurie keeps running into other Brits who are writing their own "Turkey books," as she and her aunt Dot (aka Dorothea ffoulkes-Corbett) are planning to do. Aunt Dot has also come to Turkey because of her conviction that "Moslem" women are treated badly and that they would be more liberated if they converted to Christianity. Father Chantry-Pigg has come along because he's convinced the best form of Christianity to which they can convert is Anglicanism. The two of them have vague ideas about setting up an Anglican mission. Meanwhile, Laurie just wants to see a bit of the world and do some sketching.

Part of the pleasure of reading books like this is not just that they take you to exotic parts of the world, they also take you to distant time periods that you can never visit in person, and Macaulay does a wonderful job of transporting you to both. The novel is set during the time that the Iron Curtain had just descended over Eastern Europe. The situation along the border between Turkey and Soviet Georgia is hostile, and tourists are often suspected of being spies for one side or the other. Despite, or perhaps because of, the tension, Dot and Father Chantry-Pigg are determined to slip over into the Russian-controlled state to satisfy their curiosity about conditions on the other side. They manage to do so, which means that for the rest of the novel Laurie is left on her own. Well, not completely on her own. Aunt Dot owns a camel, which becomes Laurie's responsibility. She does ride the camel across much of Turkey and eventually gets it back to London.

Laurie's journey, which takes center stage in the second half of the book, is both geographical and interior. While she is on what is ostensibly a sort of missionary trip, she wrestles with her own feelings about religion and the High Church. On top of all that, she is involved in a love affair with a married man (identified only as Vere) with whom she eventually has a rendezvous in a yacht off Iskenderun. She is tormented by her belief that having an affair with a married man is basically stealing from the wife, while at the same time believing that she and Vere are meant for each other. No matter what, she never wants to let go of their relationship. This, in fact, very much echoed Rose Macaulay's situation in real life. 

I've seen this novel described as "farcical" and "high comedy," which it really isn't. It's charming, and it's laced with humorous observations and absurd situations, but it is the sort of book that will at best make you chuckle once in a while rather than laugh out loud. (Well, okay... I admit the part with Mr. Yorum did crack me up.) It's not all fun and games, though. The ending will likely throw you for a loop. By all means avoid reading anything about how the book ends because it sneaks up on you unawares, and I believe it is all the more powerful for that.