Turkish Trilogy

"What Survives takes the reader on an inspiring journey of transformation as Adalet finds her voice and command as a woman. The sights, tastes, and politics of modern Turkey add to this extraordinary story's power. This novel will transport you!" -Lynn C. Miller, author of The Day After Death, The Fool's Journey, and The UnmaskingAdalet Ulusoy is recovering from severe burns to her legs, the death of her parents, and the loss of her unborn child, all resulting from a massive earthquake on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey.When her husband deserts her for another woman, his wealthy family sends her to live in a vacant home they own in the pottery village of Avanos. In Avanos, Adalet meets the formidable blind and elderly Fatma. Fatma is the grandmother of a teenage budding artist, Meryem. Adalet discovers Meryem's talent through Meryem's mischievous behavior.Adalet convinces Fatma that art school will be much better for Meryem than an arranged marriage. With Fatma's help, and against the backdrop of a changing and developing Turkey, Adalet and Meryem move to Istanbul so that Meryem can study art. There they meet an American art professor from New York City. Through love, mentorship and the horrifying events of September 11th, their lives are forever changed.

"What Survives takes the reader on an inspiring journey of transformation as Adalet finds her voice and command as a woman. The sights, tastes, and politics of modern Turkey add to this extraordinary story's power. This novel will transport you!" -Lynn C. Miller, author of The Day After Death, The Fool's Journey, and The UnmaskingAdalet Ulusoy is recovering from severe burns to her legs, the death of her parents, and the loss of her unborn child, all resulting from a massive earthquake on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey.When her husband deserts her for another woman, his wealthy family sends her to live in a vacant home they own in the pottery village of Avanos. In Avanos, Adalet meets the formidable blind and elderly Fatma. Fatma is the grandmother of a teenage budding artist, Meryem. Adalet discovers Meryem's talent through Meryem's mischievous behavior.Adalet convinces Fatma that art school will be much better for Meryem than an arranged marriage. With Fatma's help, and against the backdrop of a changing and developing Turkey, Adalet and Meryem move to Istanbul so that Meryem can study art. There they meet an American art professor from New York City. Through love, mentorship and the horrifying events of September 11th, their lives are forever changed.

As They Are is a magnificent and meticulously-researched story of three generations of women and how the sufferings of one give shape to the challenges the next will endure." -Joan Schwighardt, author of RIVERS trilogy: Before We Died, Gifts for the Dead, and River AriaGenerous and ingenious, Fatma wants to give her descendants a chance at a better life, one that bears more risk than she may take for herself. Fatma is born a child of rape, deep in the fairy cave dwellings of Cappadochia in the central Anatolia regions of Turkey. At the moment of her birth, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk, future founder of the Republic of Turkey), is driving Allied forces from the Gallipoli peninsula.Set against the backdrop of Ataturk's sweeping changes, As They Are follows the story of a village girl struggling to become a woman as the decimated Ottoman Empire struggles to become a republic. Fatma aspires to become a journalist when her life is upended by the threat of blindness.She grapples with life-paralyzing depression that threatens her sanity after the birth of her first child.She must face the secrets that have undermined the truth about her life.As an elder, wise woman, Fatma is the nearly blind widow of a potter, running a small empire with her sons, leading a simple life in not-so-simple times. Yet one question remains: What would you sacrifice so that your descendants could live a better life?

From the award-winning author of What Survives and As They Are, comes another literary novel of women empowering each other.It is the evening of July 15, 2016. Nuray Demir, a journalist, steps off the tram in Istanbul to visit her friend, Adalet Ulusoy. Gun shots burst out nearby, and chaos breaks loose in the streets before her eyes. Soldiers are dispersing everywhere. Nuray runs to investigate and crosses paths with the wrong soldier.Adalet struggles with a long-distance relationship that has gone on for several years. He is Jewish, and she is Muslim. He lives in New York, and she lives in Istanbul. He would marry her in a heartbeat, but she is too emotionally tied to Turkey to make that commitment.These two women, each in completely different circumstances, are both caught up in a vortex of change. Will they learn to navigate and overcome this new reality? Or will they find a way to safely leave it behind?