"A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape."-Elif Shafak (on book 1 of the series)

"Altan uses a Tolstoyan combination of the epic and the intimate to explore questions of national identity and historical narrative."-The Observer

"Altan's descriptions of a stifling atmosphere of authoritarian repression in Istanbul in the early 1900s conjure up constant comparisons with today's Turkey."-The TLS

The third book in the Ottoman Quartet, set in the years leading up to WWI, is steeped in the tumultuous events and the political struggle that shaped 20th century Turkey, from the war against the Bulgarian army and the coup that resulted in the nation's one-party rule. Against this background, a tormented, obsessive love affair unfolds between Nizam, the son of Hikmet Bey, and Russian pianist Anya.

This tapestry of love and war allows Altan to analyse the structure of male power and its degeneration into violence against women, uncompromising nationalism, and pervasive censorship.

Atan confirms himself as a caustic, courageous writer, never afraid to denounce an arrogant and undemocratic power, allowing the reader to read between the lines the situation of contemporary Turkey.

About the Author
Writer and journalist Ahmet Altan was arrested in September 2016, accused of sending subliminal messages in support of the failed coup d'etat. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2018. He was released in 2021 after the European court of human rights demanded the 71-year-old's freedom in a verdict that accused Turkey of violating his civil rights. An advocate for Kurdish and Armenian minorities and a central figure in the Turkish cultural world, Altan is the author of ten novels, including Like a Sword Wound (Europa Editions), Endgame (Canongate), and prison memoir I Will Never See the World Again (Granta). Brendan Freely was born in Princeton, NJ, in 1959 and studied psychology at Yale University. He has been working as freelance a literary translator since 2004, and has translated over twenty books. He is also co-author, with John Freely, of Galata, Pera, Beyoglu: A Biography about the social history, architecture and topography of the Beyoglu district of Istanbul.


Book Information
ISBN 9781787704398
Author Ahmet Altan
Format Paperback
Page Count 560
Imprint Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
Publisher Europa Editions (UK) Ltd