Skip to main content
Listen-and-Read x-book®
The Endless Country by Sami Kent x-book

Listen to a sample

00:00
00:00

The Endless Country

Author
Sami Kent
Publisher
Pan Macmillan
Publish Date
27 June 2024
Run Time
11 hours 29 minutes
Format
x-book®

Not available in your country

We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.

What to expect

This audio edition includes an Epilogue read by the author, Sami Kent.

'Captivating. Kent effortlessly weaves travels that are close to his heart into a bigger story of Turkey’s past and present' – Mishal Husain
'A rich, spellbinding book: dense with people, stories, history, colour, lived experience. [Sami Kent] is a beguiling and charming guide through the complexities of Turkey. The book is alive on every page' – Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others


The Endless Country takes a journey through Turkey’s past – the nation the author’s father left decades ago and he returns to as a young man.

It is not about Erdogan or Atatürk, the two towering Presidents who have book-ended that history, and at times have appeared impossible to escape. Instead Sami Kent’s book goes deep beyond them, revealing a history as rich, layered and absurd as his family’s favourite dessert, künefe: a shredded wheat pastry with a core of melted cheese, a topping of pistachios, and a drowning of syrup.

From tiny weightlifters to the world’s biggest prison, from a failed socialist commune to a wildly successful orchid ice cream, the book is a tribute to the sheer bewildering diversity of Turkey’s past: its people, their ideas and their struggles.

Critics Review

  • The Endless Country is a resoundingly successful attempt to tell Turkey’s history – the first 100 years since the founding of the republic – through Kent’s own story of coming back to the land of his father. But more than that: by talking to people and visiting places involved with each decade of that century, Kent brings the past alive

    Guardian

  • This is surely how history should be told – human, fun, alive

    Telegraph

  • Captivating. Kent effortlessly weaves travels that are close to his heart into a bigger story of Turkey’s past and present

    Mishal Husain

  • Sami Kent's journey in search of his father's country yields a rich, spellbinding book: dense with people, stories, history, colour, lived experience. He is a beguiling and charming guide through the complexities of Turkey. The book is alive on every page.

    Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others

See more reviews
  • A must-read for anyone who wants to understand Turkey . . . from a touching family biography to a wonderful travelogue to an excellent treatise of Turkey’s rich and complicated political history

    Soner Çagaptay, author of Erdogan's Empire

  • Turkey's complicated first century comes to life through Sami Kent's judiciously chosen stories, which he tells with compassion and depth alongside his search for the meaning of his own heritage . . . It is hard to find a more complete insight into a country that few writers really know, and even fewer can explain.

    Hannah Lucinda Smith, author of Erdogan Rising

  • [Kent] leverages his journalistic acumen to offer a vivid and nuanced portrait of the nation . . .

    The Daily Star

  • An insightful, moving and beautifully crafted portrait of a nation

    Literary Review

User Reviews

No reviews yet.

Details

Author
Sami Kent
Narrator
Ojan Genc, Sami Kent
Duration
11 hours 29 minutes
Release Date
27 June 2024
ISBN
9781529099294
Format
x-book®
Publisher
Pan Macmillan
Genre
European history, Memoirs, History of other geographical groupings and regions or specific cultures / societies / groups / peoples, Social and cultural history

Synopsis

This audio edition includes an Epilogue read by the author, Sami Kent.'Captivating. Kent effortlessly weaves travels that are close to his heart into a bigger story of Turkey’s past and present' – Mishal Husain'A rich, spellbinding book: dense with people, stories, history, colour, lived experience. [Sami Kent] is a beguiling and charming guide through the complexities of Turkey. The book is alive on every page' – Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of OthersThe Endless Country takes a journey through Turkey’s past – the nation the author’s father left decades ago and he returns to as a young man.It is not about Erdogan or Atatürk, the two towering Presidents who have book-ended that history, and at times have appeared impossible to escape. Instead Sami Kent’s book goes deep beyond them, revealing a history as rich, layered and absurd as his family’s favourite dessert, künefe: a shredded wheat pastry with a core of melted cheese, a topping of pistachios, and a drowning of syrup.From tiny weightlifters to the world’s biggest prison, from a failed socialist commune to a wildly successful orchid ice cream, the book is a tribute to the sheer bewildering diversity of Turkey’s past: its people, their ideas and their struggles.

About xigxag and the x-book®

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

Our x-book® format is the only fully integrated listen-and-read experience available. See the text on screen as you listen, look up words, take notes, search within the book, and share quotes. It is especially useful for accessibility, language learning, and getting more from non-fiction. Look for the purple x-book® ribbon on the cover, or filter your search by "x-book" to find them.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.