Details

Subject(s)

• Turkish fiction—Translations into English [Browse]
• Political prisoners—Turkey—Fiction [Browse]
• Istanbul (Turkey)—Fiction [Browse]

Translator

• Hussein, Ümit [Browse]

Library of Congress genre(s)

• Fiction [Browse]
• Novels [Browse]

Summary note

"Istanbul is a city of a million cells, and every cell is an Istanbul unto itself." Below the ancient streets of Istanbul, four prisoners-Demirtay the student, the doctor, Kamo the barber, and Uncle Küheylan-sit, awaiting their turn at the hands of their wardens. When they are not subject to unimaginable violence, the condemned tell one another stories about the city, shaded with love and humor, to pass the time. Quiet laughter is the prisoners' balm, delivered through parables and riddles. Gradually, the underground narrative turns into a narrative of the above-ground. Initially centered around people, the book comes to focus on the city itself. And we discover there is as much suffering and hope in the Istanbul above ground as there is in the cells underground.

Language note

Translated from the Turkish.

ISBN

• 9781846592058
• 1846592054

LCCN

2016497532

OCLC

956959701

Statement on language in description

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