The latest story of the modern Seherazade, the most popular Turkish writer - about a boy who, at the age of twelve, becomes an elephant groom at the court of the famous and infamous Sultan Hürrem. The place is Istanbul, the time is the sixteenth century. A teenage passenger arrives in the city by boat, bringing a special gift to Sultan Süleyman. The little boy has no one and nothing, only Csota, the rare and precious white elephant destined for the zoo of the seraj, that is, the palace. Thus begins the story of little Jihan on an epic scale, during which he rises from a simple servant to the nobility of the Sultan's court. He will reach the farthest corners of the Ottoman Empire and will be there at the siege of Szigetvár.

One day, the sultan's chief architect, master Sinán, notices him, and this chance encounter has a big impact on Dzihan's fate.

The architecturally colorful kaleidoscope contains the scents, sounds, wonders and all kinds of inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire from the time when bustling Istanbul was the center of the world. Elif Shafak's captivating, exotic tale captivates the reader and does not let go until the very last page.