From one of Turkey’s most acclaimed and outspoken writers comes a novel about the intertwined histories of two families.
In her second English-language novel, Elif Shafak delves into her country’s tumultuous past with a vivid and colorful narrative set in both Turkey and the United States. At the heart of the story is Asya, the “bastard” of the title, a nineteen-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists. She lives with the four Kazanci sisters in an extended household in Istanbul: Zehila, the spirited and headstrong youngest sister who runs a tattoo parlor and is Asya’s mother; Banu, newly self-identified as a clairvoyant; Cevriye, a widowed high school teacher; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster. Their estranged brother lives in Arizona with his wife and her Armenian daughter, Armanoush. When Armanoush secretly travels to Istanbul to uncover her identity, she meets the Kazanci sisters and quickly becomes friends with Asya. Together, they uncover a secret that links their families to the 1915 Armenian deportations and massacres. Filled with vibrant and unforgettable female characters, *The Bastard of Istanbul* is a bold and powerful tale that solidifies Shafak’s status as a rising star in international fiction.
