THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL - Praise
Longlisted for Orange Fiction Prize
An astonishingly rich and lively story of an Istanbul family...
Handled with an enchantigly light touch.
Kirkus Reviews
Overflows with a kitchen sink's wortk of zany characters...
Entertaining and insightful.
Publishers Weekly
Zesty, imaginative....
A Turkish version of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club.
USA Today
"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
"Engrossing"
Daily Telegraph
"What a pleasure"
The Times
The characters in The Bastard of Istanbul are so alive they leap off the page to sit beside you on the couch. What women!... This is the rare family saga that understands the value of both modernity and tradition.
Susan Isaacs
Shafak's writing is seductive; each chapter of her novel is named for a food, and the warmth of the Turkish kitchen lies at the center of its wide-ranging plot.
Jennifer Gerson, Elle
Quite an exceptional literary feast.
Ariel Dorfman
Bold and raggedly beautiful... Although this book is crowded with characters, its most vivid one is not one of the Kazanci matriarchs but Istanbul tiself.
Star Tribune
A deftly spun tale of two families who are burdened by dark secrets and historical tragedies rooted in a common Istanbul past.
The Economist
Beautifully imagined..... It is Shafak's vibrant language that drives the characters.
Chicago Tribune
In a better world, Turkish writer Elif Shafak would get more attention for her zesty, imaginative writing and less for the controversy politics stir up. A lively look at conteporary Istanbul and family through the eye sof two young women, one Turkish and one Armenian American.
USA Today
Rich and satisfying... Shafak's prose is rich with telling detail and witty description.
The Seattle Times
