What would I do if I were a different person… “, asks the young Aysu. She writes her thoughts in a notebook. The first part of the novel is preceded by the leitmotif “Speak, Memory”, where Aysu recalls her childhood in two countries, on two continents. Part of it was here, and the other spent part there.

Her family lives in, or rather between two cultures, Germany and Anatolia. It is a disruption not only of feelings and thought, but even reality. Two of the four children of the aging couple live in Cologne, two in Ankara. Aysu was initially taken as a child from his parents to Germany, only a few years later sent back to Turkey to spend most of her childhood without parents.

The novel is not only a book about migrant stories, it’s about loneliness and fear, home and distance, separation and union, bondage and freedom. The brilliant narration of details and characterization gives fascination and strength to the novel. The reader will touch a world that may only seem strange, but soon to be trusted. The author does not accuse, does not count on, does not want to explain – she is simply, brutally frank and sincere. 

Menekşe Toprak (b. 1970 in Kayseri) is a Turkish writer, freelance journalist and radio programmer. After completing his primary and secondary education in Ankara and Cologne, she graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, Ankara, Turkey. She lives between Berlin and Istanbul since 2002.

Her first stories book “Valizdeki Mektup” was published in 2007 by YKY Publishing. Her stories took part at magazines as Kitaplık, Notos Öykü, Özgür Edebiyat and anthologies as “Istanbul in Women Stories” and “Ankara in Women Stories”. Her stories were also translated into German and appeared at 20th Century Turkish Stories Anthology (Türkische Erzählungen des 20 Jahrhunderts Suhrkampverlag). She has two stories books and one novel published.

meneksetoprak.com

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