The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

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About Elif Shafak

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The Bastard of Istanbul

» Elif Shafak

Penguin
Paperback : 24 Apr 2008

£8.99

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Awards

Orange Prize for Fiction : Longlist 2008

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Synopsis

One rainy afternoon in Istanbul a woman walks into a doctor's surgery. 'I want an abortion', she announces. She is nineteen years old, and unmarried. What happens that afternoon is to change her life, and the lives of everyone around her.

Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse all the men die by age 41, so it is a house of women, among them her beautiful, rebellious mother, Zeliha, clairvoyant Auntie Banu and bar-brawl widow, Auntie Cevriye. But when Asya's Armenian-American cousin Armanoush comes to stay, long-hidden family secrets and Turkey's turbulent past begin to emerge.

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Critic Review:

'Elif Shafak found uproarious comedy as well as culture-crossing wisdom in her transatlantic tale of the hidden affinities between Turks and Armenians.'
The Independent