He had placed all his hopes for the future of the family on her going to Oxford. Peri has spent her life being conflicted because she didn’t want to take sides, even if she was leaning toward her father’s. It is this darkness that has led Peri to live between her mother and her father, non-religious, that fight each other for everything. Her mother, a religious woman, believes that there is darkness in Peri’s soul, and Peri had not faced it in years before she was following the child that stole her bag. With a bit more told each time, the woman becomes more visible.
The story is told starting now, and flashing back to Peri’s history. You will not be aware until you have finished the story, that this is a metaphor for her life. Peri then returns to the car with her daughter, drives on to her original destination – a dinner party with the elite of Turkey. She is wounded, and almost raped, but is able to survive with only a knife wound to her hand, and a photo from another lifetime. As she runs through the alleys of Istanbul, she is faced with the dark underside of the city. Also uncharacteristically, she runs after the thief to retrieve it. This woman, Peri, uncharacteristically leaves her bag in the back seat of her car, and it is stolen. It is modern Istanbul and the country is simmering in the duality of the world -– is it Secular or Religious? Rich or Poor? East or West? A woman is driving her daughter through the city which teems around them as they are stuck in traffic. This story starts off in a way that does not prepare you for its depth. This was an amazing story that unfolded in surprising and extraordinary ways.
While many times a book can lose something in translation, I was amazed that I felt no stilt or stumble along the way that happens in so many translated works. There are spoilers here, but I tried to keep them to a minimum.
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