Product Description

This is a timely anthology on being female expats in a Muslim country - and how the Turkish landscape, psyche, people, and customs have transformed their lives. As the Western world struggles to comprehend the paradoxes of modern Turkey, a country both European and Asian, forward-looking yet rooted in ancient empire, "Tales from the Expat Harem" reveals its most personal nuances. This illuminating anthology provides a window into the country from the perspective of thirty-two expatriates from seven different nations - artists, entrepreneurs, Peace Corps volunteers, archaeologists, missionaries, and others - who established lives in Turkey for work, love, or adventure. Poignant, humorous, and transcendent, the essays take readers to weddings and workplaces, down cobbled Byzantine streets, into boisterous bazaars along the Silk Road, and deep into the feminine stronghold of steamy Ottoman bathhouses. The outcome is a stunning collection of voices from women suspended between two homes as they redefine their identities and reshape their worldviews.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23198 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Elif Shafak, professor of Middle Eastern studies, University of Arizona, and award-winning Turkish author of The Saint of Incipient Insanities
"Transcends cultural stereotypes deeply-embedded in the perceptions of the Eastern harem; probes the limitlessness of female venture and portable homelands."

Tim Severin, world explorer, author and filmmaker who has followed in the footsteps of historic adventurers like Marco Polo and Sinbad the Sailor, and a regular contributor to National Geographic
"Absolutely riveting. These memoirs offer much more than glimpses of domestic Turkey. Men should read them and be informed."

Daily Telegraph (UK), January 31,2007
"[A] wonderful book; beautifully written, thought-provoking and inspiring. Every essay is spot on, literary and insightful....Be ready to book a flight to Istanbul afterwards."

Customer Reviews

Arabesk Nostalgia
I spent a year living in Istanbul, taking time to travel through central & western Turkey, a few years ago. Unfortunately I was so busy enjoying life that I didn't take the time to write anything down about my experiences, but this book brought them all flooding back.
As the other reviewer says, if you have ever spent any amount of time in the country, or you want to know more about the reality of being a female foreigner in this amazing country, get this book. It's light but gripping and I promise you won't be disappointed - get some lokum in while you indulge! Bakkal!!

tales from the expat harem in turkey
I really enjoyed this book and hopefully await a sequal. Any woman who has lived or loved in Turkey ( I have done both) will totally relate to these stories , and any woman who hasn't will still find them very engaging!A collection of personal short stories giving wonderful insights into life in turkey as a foreign woman (probabaly nothing like you imagine), just right for relaxing bedtime or beach reading!

Good varied read
If you like Turkey this is a good read. Some interesting and well written observations.