ABOUT
THE BOOK

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 . . .