I was attracted to the title of this book. It seems like we live in the age of the "rage of the vulture." I see Unsworth drew his title from these lines from Byron:

Know ye the land where the cypress and the myrtle
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime,
Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime.

Byron

The Bride of Abydos

From Amazon:

It is May 1908 and the Ottoman world is crumbling. Robert Markham, an Englishman in Constantinople, is newly posted to the British legation with his imperious wife and overly curious son. Markham's hidden life is about to make itself known as he forgets familial and patriotic ties in order to absolve a deep-seated guilt. Twelve years before, he had been involved with an Armenian woman. On the evening of their engagement, the Armenian massacres erupted. Saved by his British citizenship, he witnessed the brutal rape and murder of his fiancee. Amid the breakdown of the Turkish empire, he now seeks revenge.

I decided to read Lord Byron's "The Bride of Abydos" rather than this book. I ordered a collection that contains the poem yesterday. I'm sorry this book is a little battered looking. I cleaned it up a bit after finding it at Goodwill. Now this book is a a gift from BookCrossing, a random community of book lovers. If you'd like to join the BookCrossing story of this book, please make a journal entry at our site with the BCID (bookcrossing ID) on the bookplate. BookCrossing is free to join and confidential. You don't have to join to comment. We'd like to hear anything you'd like to share about this book, though it's a gift whether or not you want to join or comment.

This book traveled away from its Little Free Library on Starfire. May it have good reading adventures.