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The Devil Inside Us

“You think you know yearning ... you think you know the fleeting nature of happiness ... you think you know unrequited love, you think you know lyrical writing ... and then you read Madonna in a Fur Coat”

"The surprise bestseller ... read, loved and wept over by men and women of all ages”

“Deeply moving … transformative … a love story that I actually love”

“A heart-breaker ... it has the kind of indefinably powerful impact of The Great Gatsby”

Sabahattin Ali (Author) 
Sabahattin Ali (1907–1948) was born in the Ottoman town of Egridere (now Ardino in southern Bulgaria). A teacher, novelist, short-story writer and journalist, he owned and edited a popular weekly newspaper called Marko Pasa. He is admired for the determination with which he defended his political beliefs, which are anchored through his writing. Madonna in a Fur Coat, first published in 1943, is his best-loved work and a touchstone of Turkish literary culture which continues to resonate profoundly with readers young and old today. 
 
Alexander Dawe (Translator) 
Alexander Dawe has translated several works from French and Turkish, including the short stories of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar and Sait Faik. 
 
Maureen Freely (Translator) 
Maureen Freely is a writer, a professor at Warwick University, and the Chair of Trustees of English PEN. She has published seven novels and numerous translations of twentieth century Turkish classics and contemporary authors including five books by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk.

‘It’s not me… something better would become of me if it weren’t for this fear, if only I didn’t fear this devil! Because I know for sure that he will never let me create any good that lasts…’ 
 
On a ferry crossing the Bosphoros, a philosophy student is putting the world to rights with his friend when he glimpses his soulmate, a well-educated young woman who is studying classical piano at the conservatoire. He woos her on a moonlit boat trip and they flout convention by moving in together, clinging to each other in the beauty and grime of 1930s Istanbul. But their young love is tested to its limits when he finds himself out of his depth in an increasingly febrile political climate. 
 
First published in 1940, this novel of survival and betrayal caused a sensation, intensifying the political persecution that eventually led to the author’s untimely and mysterious death.

Sabahattin Ali

Maureen Freely

Alexander Dawe

David Selim Sayers

You think you know yearning ... you think you know the fleeting nature of happiness ... you think you know unrequited love, you think you know lyrical writing ... and then you read Madonna in a Fur Coat

The surprise bestseller ... read, loved and wept over by men and women of all ages

Deeply moving … transformative … a love story that I actually love

A heart-breaker ... it has the kind of indefinably powerful impact of The Great Gatsby

'It is, perhaps, easier to dismiss a man whose face gives no indication of an inner life. And what a pity that is: a dash of curiosity is all it takes to stumble upon treasures we never expected.' 
 
A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade in 1920s Berlin. The city's crowded streets, thriving arts scene, passionate politics and seedy cabarets provide the backdrop for a chance meeting with a woman, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the unfathomable nature of the human soul. 
 
With an introduction by David Selim Sayers.

Madonna in a Fur Coat

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