The Bastard of Istanbul

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A gripping and beautiful novel from Elif Shafak, Booker-shortlisted author of The Island of Missing Trees and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

One rainy afternoon in Istanbul a woman walks into a doctor's surgery. 'I want an abortion,' she announces. She is nineteen years old, and unmarried. What happens that afternoon will change her life, and the lives of everyone around her.

Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in Istanbul. A mysterious curse causes all the men to die by the age of 41, so it is a house of women, among them her beautiful, rebellious mother, Zeliha, clairvoyant Auntie Banu and bar-brawl widow, Auntie Cevriye. But when Asya’s Armenian-American cousin Armanoush comes to stay, long hidden family secrets connected with Turkey's turbulent past begin to emerge.

'Wonderfully magical, incredible, breathtaking...will have you gasping with disbelief in the last few pages' Sunday Express

'A beautiful book, the finest I have read about Turkey' Irish Times

'Heartbreaking...the beauty of Islam pervades Shafak's book' Vogue

© Elif Shafak 2007 (P) Penguin Audio 2019

User Reviews

Book 4.5
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
Lovely story of complicated families, great characters and storyline, I didn’t want it to end, that’s my sign of a good book!
jeannette 09/10/2025
4.0
5.0
Not her best but a real epic family drama with lovable flawed characters. I think her playing around with non linear time didnt work as well here as it has with some of her other books like Gaze or Island of Missing Trees, as it kind of seems a bit sporadic but it's still effective especially when it comes to the twists. There is also lack of substantial character development for Asya and Armanoush, with a sort of unsatisfactory effect coming from the revelation of some of the major twists because how it is not made entirely clear the thoughts or feelings of the characters involved which I think added to my perception of the lackluster character development.
That said I love all the characters and Shafaks bravery for releasing the book has to be commended.
floralwallpaper 27/06/2023

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