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The Bastard of Istanbul

Elif Shafak - Author
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Book: Paperback | 8.26 x 5.23in | 368 pages | ISBN 9780143112716 | 29 Jan 2008 | Penguin | 18 - AND UP
The Bastard of Istanbul
When The Bastard of Istanbul was published in Turkey, Elif Shafak was accused by nationalist lawyers of insulting Turkish identity. The charges were later dropped, and now readers in America can discover for themselves this bold and powerful tale. Populated with vibrant characters, The Bastard of Istanbul is the story of two families, one Turkish and one Armenian American, and their struggle to forge their unique identities against the backdrop of Turkey's violent history. Filled with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the tension between the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it.

"Zesty, imaginative . . . A Turkish version of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club."
-USA Today

"Shafak's writing is seductive. . . . The Bastard of Istanbul portrays family as more than merely a function of genetics and fate, folding together history and fiction, the personal and the political into a thing of beauty."
-Elle

"[This] saucy, witty, dramatic, and affecting tale in the spirit of novels by Amy Tan, Julia Alvarez, and Bharati Mukherjee should prove irresistible to readers. . . . A grandly emphatic and spellbinding story."
-New York Newsday (cover)

"Beautifully imagined . . . this wonderful new novel carried me away. And reality was different when I returned."
-Chicago Tribune


Orange Prize for Fiction: Longlist 2008

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