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The Bastard of Istanbul
Elif Shafak
Viking
January 2007
On Sale: January 18, 2007
368 pages ISBN: 0670038342 EAN: 9780670038343 Hardcover
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Fiction
In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak
confronts her country’s violent past in a vivid and colorful
tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center
is the “bastard” of the title, Asya, a nineteen-year-old
woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists,
and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live
together in an extended household in Istanbul: Zehila, the
zestful, headstrong youngest sister who runs a tattoo parlor
and is Asya’s mother; Banu, who has newly discovered herself
as a clairvoyant; Cevriye, a widowed high school teacher;
and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending
disaster. Their one estranged brother lives in Arizona with
his wife and her Armenian daughter, Armanoush. When
Armanoush secretly flies to Istanbul in search of her
identity, she finds the Kazanci sisters and becomes fast
friends with Asya. A secret is uncovered that links the two
families and ties them to the 1915 Armenian deportations and
massacres. Full of vigorous, unforgettable female
characters, The Bastard of Istanbul is a bold, powerful tale
that will confirm Shafak as a rising star of international
fiction.
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