In 1990 Anatolia (in Turkey), Orhan returns home for his grandfather's funeral. Orhan now lives in Istanbul and is the manager of the family rug-making business. To Orhan's surprise, his grandfather has left an apartment for his father and aunt to live in, the family business to him and their ancestral home, their home for generations, to a woman he's never heard of who lives in California.Determined to secure the family home for them (because what would someone who lives in California want with a home in central Turkey?), Orhan travels there to persuade her to sign the house back to him, with cash as an incentive if necessary. He is also determined to discover just how this woman's life intersects with that of his family.
Once there, he finds Seda, the recipient of the house, now living in a nursing home for Armenians and unwilling to talk to him. Over the course of the novel, as Orhan learns about Seda, he must come face-to-face with his family's past, Seda's past, and his own country's past.
Coinciding with the 100th "anniversary" of the Armenian genocide in 1915 in Turkey, I found this book to be a fascinating look at a part of history I haven't heard much about,...until this year. At times the book was difficult to read. Not knowing what awaited Seda and her family made for tense reading moments and sometimes I had to put the book aside for a few minutes. Needing to find out what happened, though, I always went back to it.
This book introduced me to a people and culture I wasn't familiar with. I ended up feeling sympathy for both sides of the story - a great achievement for the author.
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