The first thing I did when I bought this book and three other titles by the same author was to look up ‘how to pronounce’ his name and I believe I can now.

As I grow more into my writing and explore various genres, I find myself taken in by phrases, descriptions, those lines that sneak up on you as you read and stay with you all through the book. I now understand why it’s always important to carry a notebook and a pen because I am on page 96 of this book and so far, three phrases have become my silent companions.

There comes a point in life where each one of us who survives begins to feel like a ghost that has forgotten to die at the right time, and certainly most of us were more amusing when we were young.

The story begins, and he who slaps his own face should not cry out.

Why does God give us a garden, and put a snake in it?

I find myself looking forward to where this story will take me, back in time or to just a moment in time, I don’t know. On the blurb it promises a story set against the backdrop of the collapsing Ottoman empire, and the subsequent struggle between the Greeks and the Turks, in a small community in south-west Anatolia. It states that it is about the personal and political costs of war and love.

Until then, live, laugh, love and stay warm.