Details

ISBN-10: 160945619X
ISBN-13: 9781609456191
Publisher: Europa Editions
Publish Date: 11/24/2020
Dimensions: 8.20" L, 5.30" W, 1.70" H

Love in the Days of Rebellion

Translator: Brendan Freely
Translator: Yelda Türedi

Paperback

Price: $19.00

Overview

From the author of Like a Sword Wound

Weaving together tortured love affairs, political intrigue, power struggles, and social upheavals, Love in the Days of Rebellion offers a powerful and vivid tableau of the crisis of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.

The second installment in the Ottoman Quartet–the masterful saga of Turkish history by Ahmet Altan–follows the vast and vivid cast of characters introduced in the first volume of the series, Like A Sword Wound.

The novel opens with the attempted suicide of Hikmet Bey, the son of the sultan’s personal physician. The reason for his extreme gesture was to forget the extremely beautiful and proud Mehpare Hanım, his wife and the cause of all his suffering. While Hikmet is recovering in a hospital in Thessaloniki, slowly regaining his strength and will to live, radical changes are afoot in the Ottoman capital. The power of the sultan is eroding, a rebellion is brewing, and violence erupts on the streets of Istanbul. It is the eve of one of the key events that will lead to the collapse of the Empire: the countercoup of 1909.

With striking clarity and imaginative power, Altan evokes the traumas and upheavals of Ottoman history, showing how–over a hundred years later–the events and wounds of that time still resonate in the tensions and contradictions of today’s Turkey.

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Reviews

Praise for Love in the Days of Rebellion

"Altan's lush swirl of intrigue and speculation is filtered through the consciousness of a reclusive modern-day citizen of Istanbul, holed up in his grandfather's decaying mansion, channeling the stories of his ancestors and those who surrounded them."–The New York Times

"In Altan's world, love comes with loss, happiness is the cause of unhappiness, divorce can yield friendship, honor and conviction are conjoined with infidelity, error and uncertainty; there are always choices to be made [ . . . ] Love in the Days of Rebellion is atmospheric, hypnotic, inevitable, and sad, or perhaps triste, as Hikmet Bey would undoubtedly have put it."–The Asian Review of Books

"This book is just as piercing as the first in the series and readers would be well served by reading that one first. An ambitious and intelligent thriller about love and war."–Kirkus Reviews

"Sweeping and superbly written, Love in the Days of Rebellion sheds light on one of the most painful and overlooked chapters of Ottoman history, perfectly combining literature and historiography."–Medioriente e dintorni

"The entire novel radiates with extreme beauty."–Critica Letteraria

Praise for Ahmet Altan

"Ahmet Altan is one of the foremost voices in Turkish literature and has much to say to the world."–Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and Three Daughters of Eve

"The period details are abundant and accurate; [...] and turn-of-the-century Istanbul, both beautiful and corrupt, comes vividly to life."–Wendy Smith, Publishers Weekly on Like a Sword Wound

★ "Existential questions perfectly blended with atmosphere and rat-a-tat prose; highly recommended."–Library Journal (Starred Review) on Endgame

"Although it offers an implicit critique of Turkey's corrupt justice system, Endgame is also comic and charmingly absurd, largely due to the reckless efforts of its characters to get even."–The Washington Post on Endgame

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Details

ISBN-10: 160945619X
ISBN-13: 9781609456191
Publisher: Europa Editions
Publish Date: 11/24/2020
Dimensions: 8.20" L, 5.30" W, 1.70" H
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