Engagement

New from the internationally acclaimed winner of the EU Prize for Literature.

This harrowing tale, which spans sixteen hours and is told through the eyes of a mysterious narrator, delves into the bad blood between two timeless villages in Turkey. Based on a true story, the book tells of geographical complexities, tangled relations, hazy memories and unreliable witnesses: a story in which perhaps is nothing as it seems...A celebratory dinner and engagement ceremony is to be held at a large home in Our Village, in southeast Turkey. Halil, the cousin of the future bride, Leyla, is sent to a nearby village to buy the traditional cologne. Leyla's sister, Maral, is told to go door-to-door to remind everyone to attend. Throughout the long day, the other women of the household clean, cook and toil. Meanwhile, a duststorm descends out of nowhere and a menacing mist settles over the village streets. This harrowing tale, which spans sixteen hours and is told through the eyes of a mysterious narrator, delves into the bad blood between two timeless villages where most of the men are heavily armed village guards, and there is money to be made in agriculture, oil, fish farms and more. Geographical complexities, tangled relations, hazy memories and unreliable witnesses make for a story in which perhaps is nothing as it seems... Inspired by the May 2009 massacre of over forty people in a village in the southeastern province of Mardin.