• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Esplora Travel

Esplora Travel

exclusive cultural, expert-led small-group tours

Menu
  • Tours
    • SICILY
      • Small group Sicily tours
        • Treasures of Sicily
        • Hidden Sicily
        • Sicilian Vineyards, Wine and Food Tour
        • Easter in Sicily Tour
        • Montalbano’s Sicily
        • Discovering Palermo
      • Sicily walking tours and holidays
        • Walking in the Madonie Mountains
        • Walking in Eastern Sicily
        • Walking in Western Sicily
        • Walking in the Aeolian islands
    • ITALY
      • Cultural and walking tours in Italy
        • Calabria Tour
        • Puglia and Matera Tour
        • Treasures of Umbria
        • Walking in Umbria
    • TURKEY
      • Istanbul – short breaks
      • North Western Turkey Tour
      • The Lycian Coast
      • Eastern Turkey Tour
      • Walking in Cappadocia
    • CAUCASUS
      • Cultural tours in the Caucasus
        • Armenia and Georgia Tour
        • The Mountains of Georgia
    • GREECE
      • Cultural Tours in Greece
        • Classical Greece Tour
        • Crete Tour
    • ALBANIA
      • Albania Tour
    • VIA EGNATIA
    • Close
  • Dates
    • 2025 Tour Dates
    • 2026 Tour Dates
    • Close
  • Destinations
      • SICILY
      • SOUTHERN ITALY
      • TURKEY
      • GREECE
      • ARMENIA
      • GEORGIA
    • Close
  • About
    • About…
      • Who we are
      • Why travel with us?
      • Sign up for our newsletter
    • FAQ
      • Questions about our tours
      • Our Terms and Conditions (non-UK residents)
      • Our Terms and Conditions (UK residents)
    • Recent Articles
    • Reading Lists
      • Our Sicily reading list
      • Our Southern Italy reading list
      • Our Turkey reading list
      • Our Armenia & Georgia reading list
      • Our Greece reading list
    • The Armchair Traveller
    • Close
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search
house in turkey

Our Turkey reading list

You may want to do some background reading before the trip. Here is a short list of some of the books we have enjoyed.

Non Fiction – History & Art

  • Lords of the Horizons : A History of the Ottoman Empire ~ Jason Goodwin

    Starting with the origins of the Turkish tribes and the House of Osman, this book traces Turkish history back to the Mongolian steppe

  • Constantinople – City of the World’s Desire 1453-1924 ~ Philip Mansel

    An excellent account of how Istanbul came to dominate the world scene for almost 500 years.

  • Istanbul – The Imperial City ~ John Freely

    Freely was a teacher at the Bosphorous University in Istanbul for over forty years. His books on Turkey and Istanbul are some of the most informative and readable available.

  • Ataturk – The Rebirth of a Nation ~ Lord Kinross

    It is impossible to understand Modern Turkey without at least some knowledge of Ataturk. Kinross’s biography was the first to attempt this massive subject

  • Ataturk : The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey ~ Andrew Mango

    More recent than the Kinross biography, Mango has filled in some of the darker details

  • Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey ~ Hugh and Nicole Pope

    A very readable account of Modern Turkish history.

  • A short history of Byzantium ~ John Julius Norwich

    John Julius Norwich is one of the undisputed experts on the history of Byzantium and this book gives us some invaluable background to the origins of Constantinople.

Non Fiction: Travel, General Interest

  • Portrait of a Turkish Family ~ Irfan Orga
  • The Caravan Moves On ~ Irfan Orga

    These two books are modern classics. The first is a fascinating account of a Turkish family in Istanbul around the time of the first world war. The second is an interesting ethnographical account of rural Turkey.

  • Istanbul: Memories of a City ~ Orhan Pamuk

    Orhan Pamuk has become the best-selling novelist of Modern Turkey, but this is an account of the neighbourhoods of Istanbul he grew up in during the fifties.

  • Black Sea : The birthplace of Civilization and Barbarism ~ Neil Ascherson

    Not just about Turkey, but a very readable account of the sea on Turkey’s northern coast.

  • Meander – East to West along a Turkish River ~ Jeremy Seal

    Absorbing account of this well known writer on Turkey’s canoe trip along the eponymous Meander.

  • South from Ephesus – Travels through Aegean Turkey ~ Brian Sewell

    Idiosyncratic but nevertheless entertaining and historically fascinating journey through South West Turkey.

Fiction

  • Iron Earth, Copper Sky ~ Yashar Kemal

    The Kurdish writer Yashar Kemal is the undisputed grandfather of the modern Turksih novel and has long been a candidate for the Nobel prize. Many of his novels have been translated into English by his now-deceased wife, Thilda Kemal.

  • Sins and Innocents ~ Burhan Sonmez

    A moving novel based partly in Cambridge and partly recounting Kurdish folktales from the Anatolian steppe.

  • The Forty Rules of Love ~ Elif Şafak

    One of Turkey’s best-selling modern novels

Mediterranean History

  • The Middle Sea ~ John Julius Norwich.

    A scholarly and thorough account of the history of the Mediterranean from early Greek times to the present day. Being a specialist on both Byzantium and Sicily, this book gives a fascinating background into the place of Sicily in the Mediterranean.

  • The Great Sea ~ David Abulafia.

    A less Eurocentric account of the history of the Mediterranean than Norwich’s and extremely readable.

Explore more

AITO
ABTA
ABTOT
ABTOI
Esplora Travel

Footer

Esplora Travel

16, Cockcroft Place, Cambridge, CB3 0HF, UK

tel:+44 (0)1223 328446

trips@esplora.co.uk

ABTA membership number: Y6134

Esplora Ltd is registered in England and Wales with registered number: 06733585

Copyright © 2025 · Navigation Pro on Genesis Framework ·

Keep in touch: