From carpet selling to shepherding -- an Australian man's chaotic adventures in Turkey ... When Brendan Shanahan returned to turkey after two years to catch up with old friends he found much had changed. Not only was the country itself transforming but the lives of his turkish friends seemed to be mirroring the growing pains of a nation on the cusp of its biggest transformation since independence. After travelling extensively in the wilds of the east - where, among other things, he found himself in the middle of a gunfight, was propositioned by shepherds and swam to Armenia in his underpants - Brendan eventually agreed to run his friend's carpet shop in Istanbul. With only the dubious help of his carpet-dealer friend, a lovable but frequently demanding bi-polar drug addict, the results were often disastrous, frequently hilarious and occasionally poignant. By the end of his travels he was broke and owned more carpets than floor, but had come to a deeper understanding both of a country he loved and the people he loved in it.

September 1905. At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the ancient city of Smyrna, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother. At the very same moment, an Indian spy sails into the golden-hued, sycamore-scented city with a secret mission from the British Empire. When he leaves, 17 years later, it will be to the smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames. Told through the intertwining fates of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family, this unforgettable novel reveals a city, and a culture, now lost to time. 'Fiercely intelligent, finely textured and achingly beautiful' Elif Shafak 'Utterly delightful' Buki Papillon 'This rich tale of love and loss gives voice to the silenced, and adds music to their histories' Maureen Freely, Chair, English PEN 'A must-read' Ayse Arman, Hu ̈rriyet 'A symphony of literature' Açik Radyo 'Defne Suman is a story-teller. She tells the story of how love, emotions and identities are influenced by socio-political events of a lifetime' Cumhuriyet Newspaper 'A wonderfully braided story of family secrets set in the magical city of Smyrna, told in luminous prose' Lou Ureneck, author of Smyrna, September 1922

At the intersection of the warmth of hearth and home and the dangers of the street lies the tenuous position of women engaged in reproductive labour, those involved in the sex trade and those in domestic positions. These are women who are vulnerable, exploited, and whose dirty work allows for the reproduction of traditional social mores and roles. Yet while they are used to sustain tradition, dialectically they reflect the hyperconnections of globalization through the migration of women, the development of placement 'agencies' that often are little but fronts for transnational crime; and the transfer of money from the developed countries to the oppressed world. This book focuses on the interaction of the global and the local through a close investigation of the political economy of desire and reproduction in three states that blur the line between developed and developing: Greece; Turkey; and Cyprus. These are countries at the crossroads, in flux, whose peripheral siting at the centre of global capitalism provides unusual insight into the dark recesses of patriarchy, paternalism and exploitation.

The realization that love can be a beautiful mess is only understood by those who have experienced it as such. Read about mine!

A “vivid and entertaining” (Chicago Tribune) tale about the tangled history of two families, from the author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick) "Zesty, imaginative . . . a Turkish version of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club." —USA Today As an Armenian American living in San Francisco, Armanoush feels like part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. Asya is a nineteen-year-old woman living in an extended all-female household in Istanbul who loves Jonny Cash and the French existentialists. The Bastard of Istanbul tells the story of their two families--and a secret connection linking them to a violent event in the history of their homeland. Filed with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it, and about Turkey itself.

An exploration of the ways in which children learned and were taught to read, against the background of the transition from Ottoman Empire to Turkish Republic. This study gives us a fresh perspective on the transition from empire to republic by showing us the ways that reading was central to the construction of modernity.

In the Nazi-occupied Warsaw of 1943, Irma Seidenman, a young Jewish widow, possesses two attributes that can spell the difference between life and death: she has blue eyes and blond hair. With these, and a set of false papers, she has slipped out of the ghetto, passing as the wife of a Polish officer, until one day an informer spots her on the street and drags her off to the Gestapo. At times a dark lament, at others a sly and sardonic thriller, The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is the story of the thirty-six hours that follow Irma's arrest and the events that lead to her dramatic rescue as the last of Warsaw's Jews are about to meet their deaths in the burning ghetto."

Have you ever wondered what it is REALLY like to live in a Muslim culture? Turkey Uncovered entertains and educates readers about the diversity that is present in Muslim culture by following the travels of the author as a volunteer English teacher in Turkey. This country has been in the limelight recently, with many unanswered questions about their current orientation East or West? This book provides valuable insights, direct from the lips of the Turks themselves, on the religious and political divisions that are present in their society. Humorous yet serious, Turkey Uncovered demolishes stereotypes and uncovers the true nature of this dynamic country that plays such a vital role in geopolitics today. You are guaranteed to be enriched by this poignant view into the Turkish soul and hopefully be moved to visit one of the most historic, beautiful and hospitable places on the globe.