The Bastard of Istanbul

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What to expect

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Bastard of Istanbul written by Elif Shafak, read by Alix Dunmore.

One rainy afternoon in Istanbul, a woman walks into a doctor's surgery. 'I need to have an abortion', she announces. She is nineteen years old and unmarried. What happens that afternoon will change her life.


Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse, all the Kaznci men die in their early forties, so it is a house of women, among them Asya's beautiful, rebellious mother Zeliha, who runs a tattoo parlour; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as clairvoyant; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster. And 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

User Reviews

Book 4.0
Narration 5.0
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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