Moris Farhi was born in Ankara, Turkey. He has written film and television scripts, and several novels,
including Children of the Rainbow and Journey through the Wilderness, both published by Saqi Books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Vice-President of International Pen; he was appointed an MBE in 2001 for 'services to literature'.
Young Turk by Moris Farhi
Saqi Books
ISBN : 0863568610
Also available in paperback.
'Everybody who knows your family says you're Jewish.'
'Well, they're wrong. We are true Muslims.'
Gül shrugged and laughed. 'Not that it matters. Atatürk says we are all equal.'
She pointed at her vagina. 'Seen enough?'
'No . . .'
She pulled up her panties. 'Yes, you have!'
I realized I had fallen in love with her.
Gypsy playmates, Armenian nannies, Jewish paramours, Greek free-spirits, Levantine 'fixers', even the Father of the Nation himself all populate Moris Farhi's tenderly remembered Turkey of 1930-55. Recounting their passions and life passages, thirteen interwoven narrators collectively embody this vanished time and place.
Review
In his latest novel, Farhi weaves together 13 short tales to tell a powerful story of Turkey just before, during, and after World War II. On the eve of war, people still believe in a Turkish culture that can accommodate any number of races and religions. But Hitler's march through Europe makes this an increasingly dicey proposition for the nation's Jews and the Turks who wish to stand by them. As Turkey begins to unravel, a cross-section of young Turks race toward adulthood in an increasingly polarized world, each in turn telling a piece of the country's beautiful and savage tapestry. In the luminous "Lentils in Paradise," two young boys find honest delight in the pleasures of the body, but soon discover that they can't be children forever after what they discover in the women's bathhouse. In "A Tale of Two Cities," a group of foolhardy teens embark on a plan to save their friend's relatives from persecution in Greece. The story is imbued with the tragedy of a doomed mission. Its honesty captures the ephemeral, sensual and often brutal process of becoming an adult as the book's haunting tone walks the line between a novel of ideas and an extended coming of age story.
Book Description
‘Moris Farhi shames the willed littleness of British fiction with this novel. In Farhi’s writing there is a distinctive collision of traditions which results in something funny, political and unique.’ David Hare
Against the backdrop of Nazism, in a multi-racial Turkey giving sanctuary to many of Europe’s fleeing Jews, a group of teenage friends struggles to understand events while reeling from (and relishing) the sexual and emotional discoveries of adolescence.
An alluring woman initiates Mustafa and his classmates in the carnal delights of rose petal jam; Musa discovers the hard facts of reaching manhood when he is expelled from the women’s baths; Bilal, a 14-year-old Jewish boy, sets off for Greece to rescue his mother’s sister; and a circus orphan known only as ‘Girl’ falls head over heels for the new trapeze artist . . .
Young Turk is a novel in thirteen positions. Reminiscent of Julio Cortazar and Italo Calvino, this is a wise, craftily spun and spine-tinglingly erotic tale of love, courage and the forging of conscience.
