BLISS

An international bestseller, Bliss embodies the sweep and contradictions of modern Turkish society and the place of women in it.

Bliss is the story of Meryem, a young village girl who is raped by her uncle. An outcast for shaming her family, she is locked in the cellar and expected to kill herself. Whe she refuses to do her duty, her cousin and childhood playmate Cemal is charged with carrying out the honor killing, to “take her to Istanbul” as the village euphemism goes. By chance, their paths cross with Irfan, an older and sophisticated professor from Istanbul who has abandoned his elite existence. Together they embark on a journey that sets them free. Beautifully wrought and simply told, Bliss brings attention to the difficult situation of women in Turkey, and captures universal truths forged in the space between people from opposite ends of a complicated culture.