Mehmed Pasha Sokolli

A historical character (1506-79) Mehmed Pasha takes his surname from the town of Sokolovići in Bosnia, near Višegrad. As a ten-year-old boy he is judicially kidnapped and taken to Stambul and installed as a janissary in the Ottoman Imperial administration. He is converted from Serbian Orthodox Christianity to Islam and renamed Mehmed.

Most of Mehmed Pasha's illustrious carrier is glossed over in the novel: it is stated that he proves himself a brave officer, rises to become Admiral of the Fleet, becomes the Sultan's son-in-law, and is a mostly-successful conqueror on three continents. Above all he proves a good administrator.

The youthful experience of being taken across the across the fast-moving Drina River by ferry, stays with Mehmed Pasha, and he decides to build a great stone bridge and caravanserai at Višegrad. He entrusts the task first to Abidaga, whose sadism fails to...