The latest addition to my website is Rhea Galanaki‘s Ο βίος του Ισμαήλ Φερίκ Πασά (The Life of Ismail Ferik Pasha. Ismail was a historical character. He and his brother were born in Crete but captured by the Ottomans during a Cretan revolt and sent into slavery. The brother escapedwhile Ismail was spotted,trained at a military school and became close to Ibrahim, the heir apparent, rising to Minister of War. His brother had got in contact with him but they did not meet. When another Cretan uprising takes place , Ismail is sent to assist the Sultan repress it but, inevitably has considerable conflict about doing so. Galanaki states that some of her story is historical but some mythical and as it is all told in the first person by Ismail, his thoughts and conflicts clearly come from Galanaki. She gives us an excellent story whoof a man thinks his path is clear but struggles to do his duty, whatever that may be, when he arrives in his homeland.