Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

to English alternates between 2003 and 1974 during the Turkish Army's invasion of Cyprus as one woman’s goals to get her life together gets upended when a stranger with a hidden agenda and a connection to her past enters her life.
While the cover and the title might look like light summer reading, Suman’s novel goes pretty deep and dark. The protagonist of this novel has a dark past and a lot of baggage that comes with it. While I had trouble connecting with her, her actions make more sense as the novel progresses. The family history she uncovers is also heartbreaking. This is definitely one you should check trigger warnings for.
One of Suman’s biggest strengths is her descriptive and evocative writing, especially when it comes to beautiful views and delicious food. Her familiarity with the places her novel takes place in also shows as she truly transports you there. The translation of some idioms being translated word for word instead of the meaning also definitely contributed to how evocative the novel was.

📕”A mature acceptance had settled within me, taking the place of my traumatised response to the horrors of the night that Dad had transported me to. Cruelty was real. It existed. It was in every one of us. The seeds of hate as well as the seeds of love were sown into the essence of what it was to be human. This truth might burn me inside, but it was irrefutable. It existed. That was all. To deny the existence of evil was to struggle in vain. The only thing I could do after this was to choose love over hate and anger. That would be my tiny contribution to the world.”
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📗Tell me one Aegean kid who wouldn’t have a story like this. I was at the summer house few weeks ago constantly saying Yusufçuk in the morning: “In front of the window a turtle dove was cooing. Because her cooing sounded like 'Yusuftsuk, - dear Yusuf - in Turkish the bird was called Yusuftcuk. 'That's Yusuf's wife who is calling', Safinaz used to tell me when I was a child.”
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📘Both sides of the Aegean have the same rituals after death. I have seen my aunt and mom doing the same for my grandma: “With the cloth Eleni had wrapped around Dad's jaw to hold his chin, Dad looked like a patient who'd just had his tooth extracted. We had also placed a knife on his stomach, right under his navel. The accessories of death: a cloth band for his chin, a metal knife to prevent the body from swelling. We had no idea whether they served any real purpose or not, but we'd followed tradition. A kind of ritual.”

Set in Istanbul, alternating between 1974 and 2003. Centered around the main characters, Melike, journey with through family history and secrets filled with sorrow, abandonment, rejection, love, and the country’s history. Not my favorite of historical fiction novels I’ve read recently, as I found I was not that invested in it. It is written with wonderful descriptions and complex characters, I learned a history that I was not aware of. I sure others will enjoy reading it.

A thoughtful novel that's more than the blurb might lead you to expect. Moving between the 197os and 2003, it's the story not only of Melike and her family but also of Cyprus, It would help, I think to have some familiarity with the political situation and upheaval that lead to, for want of a better word, partition, as well as the religious and other conflicts. And I suspect that those with greater understanding of that will take more from Melike and her actions. It's easy to say that she's always looking for a father figure but there's something else going on that was just beyond my grasp. Great atmospherics. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Wonderful translation.