I met Elif Shafak by happenstance.
No appointments. Not aware she existed until that morning. I was sitting at Sparks, the No. 1 Wellbeing Space in town and bang, she rocked up in that orange ensemble!
The Bastard of Istanbul.
What kind of a book is this?
Bastard and Istanbul are oxymorons. They do not belong together. Turkey is a deeply Islamic city, forget the tales of the Bosporus and its European side. And Islam do not talk about premarital sex.
So who is this that not only dares throw the two together but more so, paints the book all orange to attract attention?
Elif? A Middle-Eastern female?
Aha, she had to be – the rights of sonship. No foreigner, irrespective of their claim to kinship would dare. Else, they risked attracting a Fatwa on their head.
Fascinated, I picked up the bulky book. Read the blurb and then paid for it.
And that was how we met.
Since then, I have read three of her books where she has introduced me to a historical fiction of the Middle East.
Thanks to her, I know about the Yazidis genocide in Iraq. The Armenians genocides of Turkey. That biblical ancient city of Nineveh, is now known as Mosul in Iraq. I know that the Euphrates is the calmer one while the Tigris is the hot headed, angry river.
This month, Waterstones has her displayed as the Author of the month. Which prompted me to write this lengthy article about her in another publication. You may read it here
