A. Gewurz Daniele Books

The epic new novel from Sunday Times Short Story Prize-winner Anthony Doerr.

In 1974 Cyprus, two teenagers from opposing sides of a divided land meet in secret at a taverna, a refuge from the turmoil surrounding them. Kostas, a Greek Christian, and Defne, a Turkish Muslim, find solace in the vibrant atmosphere filled with the best food, music, and wine. The taverna, adorned with garlic, chili peppers, and wild herbs, allows them to escape the harsh realities of their world, even if just for a few hours. A fig tree growing through the roof stands as a silent witness to their joyful meetings and the inevitable separation that war will bring. Decades later, in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis longs to understand her family's past, having never visited the island of her parents' birth. She grapples with the weight of secrets and silence, her only link to her heritage being a Ficus Carica in her garden. The narrative weaves together themes of belonging, identity, love, trauma, and the destruction of nature, ultimately exploring the journey toward renewal. Through this rich and magical tale, the author captures the enduring impact of memory and the quest for connection across generations.

Peri, a married, wealthy, beautiful Turkish woman, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground--an old Polaroid of three young women and their university professor. A relic from a past--and a love--Peri had tried desperately to forget. Three Daughters of Eve is set over an evening in contemporary Istanbul, as Peri arrives at the party and navigates the tensions that simmer in this crossroads country between East and West, religious and secular, rich and poor. Over the course of the dinner, and amidst an opulence that is surely ill begotten, terrorist attacks occur across the city. Competing in Peri's mind, however, are the memories invoked by her almost-lost Polaroid, of the time years earlier when she was sent abroad for the first time, to attend Oxford University. As a young woman there, she had become friends with the charming, adventurous Shirin, a fully assimilated Iranian girl, and Mona, a devout Egyptian American. Their arguments about Islam and feminism find focus in the charismatic but controversial Professor Azur, who teaches divinity, but in unorthodox ways. As the terrorist attacks come ever closer, Peri is moved to recall the scandal that tore them all apart.