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"I am very much
enjoying Tales from the Expat Harem. I often find myself
annoyed by travelogue about the Middle East. So much Orientalist
stereotyping and predictable observations. But the women in your
anthology have a in-depth appreciation for Turkey, are humble, open,
and honest, and often change their perspective from beginning to
end. Very well done!"
--Nassim
Assefi, author of
Aria
"A supremely feminine
book...It can be dipped into at any point, but there is a rhythm and
progression to the presentation of these episodes, so that reading
them in sequence is not only aesthetically pleasing but instructive.
[The editors] have succeeded amazingly well in realizing their
conceptualization of this anthology... Written with a sharp eye for
telling small details, these stories can provide many ethnographic
insights... It’s a great (and instructive) read! Don’t miss it.”
--Ann
Evans Larimore , Professor Emerita of geography and women's
studies at University of Michigan,
Spring 2007 issue of the
Journal of Middle East Women's Studies
"This charming
collection of essays shows how much the struggle to fit in and
questions of identity apply as much to Western women adapting to
Turkey as they do to Third World migrants coming to the West."
--Michele Wucker,
Guggenheim Fellow and author of
LOCKOUT: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our
Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right,
and
Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for
Hispaniola
"The stories clearly
show the passion and love that these women have for Turkey and the way
the culture has intertwined with their own, through self-discovery in a
foreign land... If you're looking at Turkey as a place to visit, live or
work, and want an inside look at local culture and lifestyle, this book
is highly recommended."
--Aly Young,
Rolf Potts' Vagabonding Blog
"Tales from the Expat
Harem is a lovingly produced book that probably gives a more
rounded, fully fleshed-out view of Turkey than any book has managed
before. For anyone who wants to get a real feel for what it's like to
marry into a foreign culture, or to see how daily life works out while
settling into another land, this is an engaging and masterful
collection."
- Tim
Leffel, Editor of online magazine
Perceptive Travel
"The stories are well
written and interesting, and the concept taps into a psychological
desire of people to know how they are viewed. That makes it
interesting for Turks, and then obviously expats and travelers like
to either know what they have in store for them, or have a shared
experience with the storyteller."
--John Strelecky,
international bestselling author of
The Why Cafe
"The book is a treasure
trove of intercultural adventure, first and foremost: its vistas and
rapprochements beckon, passionately. The allure of penetrating the
physically and socially unknown, the crisply edited shifts from woman to
woman, the familiar jockeying for position with the unapologetically
alien -- each voyage of body and mind detailed brings a singular gift of
nuance, building a composite view of remarkable and unexpected beauty."
--C. David Bowman, bookseller at
Books & Co., Dayton, OH
"As you know, there are many
question marks about Turkey's image abroad in regards to women's rights
and equality; when these writers came to me, they said this book could
be used as a public relations tool for Turkey. I think this book will be
good for our country. This book shows that Turkey is not the dark
country everyone thinks it to be."
--Arzuhan
Yalçındağ, Chairperson of the Executive Board of
Kanal D Television and
Doğan Holding Board Member
"This charmingly
thought-provoking collection brings us the true experiences and stories
of ordinary women whose voices have been continuously and systematically
silenced by the tides of mainstream historiography and collective
amnesia. While the book successfully transcends the binary oppositions
and cultural stereotypes that are so deeply-embedded in the perceptions
of the Eastern harem, it also probes the wonderfully intricate relation
between the limitlessness of female venture and the limitlessness of
portable homelands."
--Elif
Shafak, professor
of Middle Eastern studies, University of Arizona, and author of
The Saint of Incipient Insanities: A Novel
"This book offers such a
wide view of the country. It's just what Turkey needs."
--Dr. Ender Sarac,
Turkey's leading Ayurvedic and alternative health care expert
"Well conceived and well
written, TALES FROM THE EXPAT HAREM is an amazing source of foreign
female wisdom reminiscent of Lady Mary Wortley Montague's TURKISH EMBASSY
LETTERS. Among famous travelers to the 18th century Orient, the
ambassador’s wife had the unique privilege of witnessing and recording
the daily lives of women in Turkey. The ladies of today’s expat harem
resume the story and share their own emotional journeys, themselves
ambassadors of Turkey, wedded to the country."
--Sirin Tekeli, feminism
and women's history scholar and editor of
Women in Modern Turkish Society: A Reader
"Contrary
to common misperceptions of Turkey as daunting and dangerous,
Tales from The Expat Harem
reveals the country’s warm Mediterranean culture. This peek through the
lattice-work into the Turkish lives of foreign-born women exposes their
encounters with the deep-seated gentility of Turks. A must-read for
anyone who thinks all Muslim cultures are identical."
--Jennifer
Lawler, author of
Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire, and
the
Dojo Wisdom
series
“Funny, moving and unusual,
the essays in this collection transcend postcard views and prejudice to
show the rich cultural tapestry of Turkish society.”
--Nicole Pope, co-author
of
Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey
and correspondent for
Le Monde
"Personal narrative meets
social commentary in EXPAT HAREM’S diverse, funny and insightful tales
of modern cross-cultural existence. Illustrating affectionate engagement
with an adopted country while maintaining critical distance, in trying
to make themselves 'at home' in Turkey, the authors succeed in
questioning the very notion of 'home' …A delightful read!"
--Sibel
Bozdogan, co-editor of
Modernity and National Identity in Turkey,
author of
Modernism and Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the
Early Republic and director of
Liberal Studies at The Boston Architectural Center
“In
the harem, Ottoman women could take off their veils and tell their
stories. Accomplished modern women in
Tales from The Expat Harem
tell us much more. Varied, absorbing personal adventures reveal today's
Turkey--modern and familiar, traditional and exotic--with a depth,
sincerity and delight found nowhere else. They fling open the doors of
an unknown world and let us see everything. I've been waiting a long
time for this book!”
--Tom Brosnahan, veteran
Berlitz,
Frommer’s
and Lonely Planet
guidebook author, originator of
Lonely Planet Turkey, founder of
the Turkey Travel
Planner website and author of travel memoir
Turkey:
Bright Sun, Strong Tea
“Charming, warm-hearted and vivid,
Tales from The Expat Harem
is not only a significant contribution to the understanding of
Turkish life and culture, but also provides a compelling insight into
the hearts and minds of foreign women who come to Turkey for love, work
or travel. Their profound soul-searching makes for a definite must-read
for everyone pondering the question of what it is we call 'home'.”
--Stine
Jensen, literary
critic for Dutch newspaper
NRC Handelsblad
and author of
Turkish Butterflies: Love Between Two Cultures,
a book about love between Turks and Europeans
“The
Expat Harem promises a world closed and sacrosanct, morphing its
occupants into a new hybrid of East and West.”
--Alev Croutier, Turkish-American author of international bestseller
Harem: The
World Behind the Veil
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"Funny, sad, exciting,
ribald, and always enlightening, these stories paint a fascinating
picture of modern Turkey. There is no better account of why this country
has captured the imagination of so many modern women."
--Stephen Kinzer,
journalist and author of
Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds
“Absolutely riveting. A
crash course in how Turkish families are run and structured, and –
equally important – a revelation of the intimate concerns of the female
strangers who crossed the threshold into those households. This
remarkable range of memoirs offers much more than glimpses of domestic
Turkey; they articulate each writer’s female perception of everyday
life. Men should read them and be informed.”
--Tim
Severin, world
explorer/traveller, author, film-maker who has literally followed in the
footsteps of historic adventurers from Marco Polo to Sinbad the Sailor,
and a regular contributor to National Geographic
"Faced with the often
bewildering task of adjusting to regional gender norms, the women of the
Expat Harem reveal in
these fascinating, well-written tales the ways in which femininity, the
way of understanding oneself as a woman, is relational and context
specific."
--Reina
Lewis, Professor
of Cultural Studies, University of East London, author of
Rethinking Orientalism: Women, Travel and the Ottoman Harem
“An
extraordinary collection of women trying to make sense of their own
lives through another culture. From the disillusioned missionary to the
lady roustabout, what unites them is not their backgrounds or
personalities but affection for an adopted Turkish homeland. The
entrance to the harem is ajar. An addictive set of insights.”
--Andrew Finkel, author of
Turkish State, Turkish Society
and longtime correspondent in Turkey who has worked for
Time magazine,
CNN
and the Times of
London
“Pulled off with finesse.
Tales
from The Expat Harem is an exhilarating journey by foreign
born women through the shadows of the harem and towards the self, as
revealed through the lens of a new culture and an ancient land. Turkey
continues to amaze with its desire to regenerate itself and all those
who embrace it.”
--Ebru Keni, managing
director of National Geographic Television & Film Turkey
"Daring and delightful, Tales
from The Expat Harem
reveals lives few of us venture to embrace and enchantments few of us
risk experiencing. Bravo to the women in this book who courageously
unmask themselves as well as the strange, new country that they
encounter."
--
Ellen Boneparth,
former U.S. diplomat, and founder and director of the
International
Women's Studies Institute
“Like many first time
visitors I approached Turkey with a little concern and trepidation -
there had been so much bad publicity over the years, didn't every
visitor have a right to some unease? Of course I quickly discovered this
is one of the friendliest and most welcoming countries imaginable. A lot
has changed in the 30 years since that first cautious visit, but the
warmth of the Turkish people certainly hasn't and I hope this insightful
new book underlines the reality about this much misunderstood nation.”
--Tony Wheeler, veteran travel journalist and co-founder of
Lonely
Planet Publications
“A most enjoyable book. Mixing humor with
sharp insight into Turkish society, family, and the role of women,
it encourages us to open our hearts to this great nation.”
--Charlotte McPherson, author of
Culture Smart! Turkey
“Closely observed and finely
wrought, these stories vividly depict the clash of cultures when Western
women come up against Turkish ways. But there is something else here
too: the invaluable life lessons people learn when they are obliged to
cope in an alien world.”
-- Craig Storti, director of the cross-cultural training firm
Communicating Across Cultures, and best-selling author of
The Art of Crossing Cultures
"Enlightening as well
as entertaining, the stories in EXPAT HAREM explore the often
misunderstood realms between East and West, tradition and modernity,
stereotype and reality told by women who are no longer tourists yet not
quite native. "
--James Villers Jr., editor of
Travelers'
Tales: Turkey
"Candid
stories by foreign women in Turkey offering unique cross- cultural
perspectives. Describing their encounters and relationships within the
Turkish culture -- with its emphasis on hospitality, family and
community --these women often reveal experiences that permanently
changed their lives. Much more than a travelogue,
Tales from The Expat Harem
is a fascinating and valuable contribution to expatriate literature."
--Patricia
Linderman, Editor in Chief,
Tales from a Small Planet
website and co-author,
The Expert Expatriate: Your Guide to Successful Relocation Abroad
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