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Letter from a Stranger
Barbara Taylor Bradford
SCaptivating and evocative, Letter from Istanbul will take you on an unforgettable journey from idyllic Connecticut to exotic Istanbul to war-torn Berlin then back to the present day.When award-winning film maker Justine Nolan returns to her beautiful childhood home, she is intrigued by an envelope she finds in her absent mother’s post. But the letter inside contains a shocking revelation. If genuine, it will change everything she believes about her family’s recent history, her mother and her adored grandmother, Gabriele.With the support of her beloved twin brother, Richard, Justine resolves to uncover the truth. To do so she must travel to Istanbul – the teeming, beguiling city on the cusp of East and West. It is a place which holds its own secrets, leading her to a fascinating man who appears to know more than he is prepared to disclose.Yet even when her quest succeeds, Justine is faced with a further mystery: Gabriele’s background is not what it seems. Justine is given a book of memories in which the real story unfolds, taking her back to the darkest days of European history, with its suffering and astonishing acts of bravery. At the heart of it lie the final facts of Gabriele’s identity – and her own.The letter from a stranger has brought her not only to the truth about her family but also a chance to heal the wounds of past betrayals, to embrace a new love and a new life.
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Letter From a Stranger
Copyright
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2011
LETTER FROM A STRANGER. Copyright © Barbara Taylor Bradford 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Barbara Taylor Bradford asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 9780007304134
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780007304226
Version: 2017-11-16
Dedication
Again for my husband Bob, and as always
with my love
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Istanbul: April 2004
Prologue
The letter, contemplated and worried about for such a long…
Part One
The Letter
One
The view from the second-floor terrace was panoramic, and breathtaking.
Two
Later that afternoon, when Daisy was taking a nap, Justine…
Three
The moment they entered Richard’s glass-enclosed studio, Justine sat down…
Four
Once Richard had left with Daisy, Justine walked slowly down…
Five
‘You look great,’ Joanne Brandon exclaimed, walking across the worn…
Six
Tita brought coffee to the drawing room, and then disappeared.
Part Two
The Search
Seven
Justine recognized Iffet Özgönül at once. It helped, of course,…
Eight
A voice filled the room. A man’s voice. Melodic. Slightly…
Nine
They were in the middle of the teeming city in…
Ten
The man cut quite a swathe as he walked through…
Eleven
Istanbul. City of contrasts. European. Oriental. Exotic, Justine wrote in…
Twelve
Several hours later, Justine and Iffet boarded the sleek white…
Part Three
The Reunion
Thirteen
The driver had turned the boat around, and now it…
Fourteen
Justine, who had been frustrated all week, felt frustrated once…
Fifteen
The afternoon tea party was a jolly event, and everyone…
Sixteen
Michael Dalton was sitting on the terrace of the Çiragan…
Seventeen
The moment they were alone, Gabriele took hold of Justine’s…
Eighteen
It was a beautiful night, the midnight-blue sky sprinkled with…
Nineteen
‘And that, Richard, is Gran’s story of the estrangement, and…
Part Four
Coup de Foudre
Twenty
Michael sat down next to Justine on the garden seat,…
Twenty-One
‘This is the most beautiful fabric,’ Justine said, looking at…
Twenty-Two
Michael was waiting for her at the jetty as they…
Twenty-Three
Sitting back, Justine stared at herself in the mirror and…
Twenty-Four
It was one o’clock in the morning when Michael and…
Twenty-Five
They lay together side by side, catching their breath, both…
Part Five
The Mystery
Twenty-Six
Gabriele was, by nature, an early riser, and on this…
Twenty-Seven
Anita and Gabriele saw them off at the jetty, waving…
Twenty-Eight
Anita was sitting on Gabriele’s terrace, studying a floor plan,…
Twenty-Nine
The three women walked across the terrace and into Gabriele’s…
Thirty
After Anita had retreated to her own yali to rest,…
Thirty-One
Later that afternoon, Justine went out to the gardens to…
