One of the books I'm reading right now is "The Bastard Of Istanbul" by famed Turkish writer Elif Shafak .
There is something so utterly alive about the characters she creates that makes it impossible to put the book down.
Read this description :
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.
This novel came out in 2006, and at the time she faced up to three years in prison for dealing with the Armenian genocide in her book . She was to be charged with "Insulting Turkishness" by some rabidly nationalist lawyer who needs to pull his denying head out of his ass.
It's an excellent read.
