The Purchased Bride : Deep Vellum Publishing : 9781646052271 : 1646052277 : 18 May 2023 : Based on a true story set in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, The Purchased Bride relates the story of Maria, a Greek girl who was bought when she was fifteen by a much older, wealthy Ottoman man. As the Ottoman Empire falls and insurgents torch their Greek village in the Caucasus, Maria and her parents flee and find shelter in a refugee camp across the border in Ottoman territory. Cholera and plague are impending, and the priest running the camp takes a desperate measure, arranging to marry Maria off to a wealthy Ottoman Turk in the capital.  She and her best friend, Lita, then travel toward the Black Sea coast through a fascinating world of ancient and forgotten Ottoman mountain communities. They encounter escalating violence, sniper attacks, and marauding troops amid the Empire's collapse, as breakaway provinces declare themselves independent caliphates in defiance of the Sultan. And whe