Young Turk by Moris Farhi

• Jafet Library - American University of Beirut, Lebanon

Publisher of Nominated Edition
Saqi Books ISBN 0863563511

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.

Moris Farhi was born in Turkey in 1935. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1956, and became a British citizen in 1964. His novels include the award-winning Children of the Rainbow and Journey through the Wilderness. He is a vice-president of International PEN, and in 2001 was appointed an MBE for 'services to literature'. He lives in London.