Türkiye

The Bastard of Istanbul
by Elif Shafak

Brilliantly fusing national and personal narratives in parallel, this is the story of two grandmothers transcending boundaries, and a family that is constantly on edge. Elif Shafak, Turkey’s most widely read female author, decided to write this book in English as a way of distancing herself from the familiar. Between its publication and translation into Turkish, the author was threatened with a three-year prison sentence, which was eventually dropped.

Penguin Essentials, 2019
First published in 2007
ISBN 9780241986448