From the Orange Prize long-listed and award-winning author of The Forty Rules of Love and The Bastard of Istanbul Elif Shafak, Honour is a novel of love, betrayal and clash of cultures.
'My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten'
And so begins the story of Esma a young Kurdish woman in London trying to come to terms with the terrible murder her brother has committed. Esma tells the story of her family stretching back three generations; back to her grandmother and the births of her mother and Aunt in a village on the edge of the Euphrates. Named Pembe and Jamila, meaning Pink and Beautiful rather than the names their mother wanted to call them, Destiny and Enough, the twin girls have very different futures ahead of them all of which will end in tragedy on a street in East London in 1978.
A powerful, brilliant and moving account of murder, love and family set in a Kurdish village, Istanbul and London.
'Vivid storytelling... that explores the darkest aspects of faith and love' Sunday Telegraph
'A gorgeous, jewelled, luxurious book' The Times
'Rich and wide as the Euphrates river along whose banks it begins and ends, Elif Shafak has woven with masterful care and compassion one immigrant family's heartbreaking story - a story nurtured in the terrible silences between men and women trying to grow within ancient ways, all the while growing past them. I loved this book' Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress
'A powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate' Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat
Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Forty Rules of Love and is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She is a contributor for The Telegraph, Guardian and the New York Times and her TED talk on the politics of fiction has received 500 000 viewers since July 2010. She is married with two children and divides her time between Istanbul and London.
Honour is not a book I probably would have chosen myself to read if I saw it on the shelves but I am so glad I did read it. It was totally different from the usual genres I read so didn’t really know what to expect.
There are many characters from the same family in the book and you get to know who they are.
The books starts with Iskender being released from prison and his sister Esma waiting for him but the next chapter goes back to when their mother was born and how her mother behaved when she had twin girls. She needed to have a son.
The chapters of the book were confusing to start with as they kept jumping from one person to another and went back and forward in the years but this is completely relevant to the story.
It was an interesting read as I have not experienced Kurd/Turkish culture and I know little about Muslims, their traditions and beliefs.
The book was well written and I enjoyed reading it.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
25 April, 2013:
Finished reading
-
25 April, 2013:
Reviewed