‘The Naked Orientalist’ tells the story of the once celebrated but now forgotten, French sailor and writer Pierre Loti and his relationship with Turkey.  It lays bare his romance with the Turkish lady of the harem he calls Aziyadé, but whose real name was Hatijay: a young Caucasian woman whom he met in Salonika in 1876. The romance continued in Constantinople that winter and ended when Loti got his orders to sail in March 1877.

Loti later wrote of the relationship in his first book, also called Aziyadé.  This was the beginning of his successful career as a writer and his lifelong love affair with Turkey and the Near East.  He went on to visit Istanbul several more times, each time paying his respects at Hatijay’s graveside.  But did Loti’s first little book Aziyadé bring about the demise of his heroine?  And did Hatijay have a son born from their union, a son that even Loti was not aware of?  In my novel, both these premises are explored using narrative techniques.