The Bastard of Istanbul

It is Asya Kazanci’s nineteenth birthday. The only thing she hates more than birthdays is the sugary “triple-layer carmelized apple cake with [sour] whipped lemon cream frosting” that she gets every year (60). Birthdays are significant, however, in that they mark instances when Asya learned something new about life and herself. At age 8, Grandma Gülsüm let it slip that Asya is a “bastard.” At 10, Asya realized that there were no men in her household. At 18, she tried to commit suicide; her aunts and Petite Ma saved her. Now, she realizes that she’s reached the age that her mother, Zeliha, was when she gave birth to her. 

The family is not only unique for comprising only women but also for their peculiar occupations. Auntie Banu works from home as a fortune-teller. To prove that she’s a true dervish, she “[abandons] all worldly vanities, just like the dervishes had done in the past” (66). She retires to her room, emerging only to eat bread, drink water, and use the toilet. When customers can’t pay, she asks them for a handful of hazelnuts, leading to their nicknaming her “Mother Hazelnut” or “Sheikh Hazelnut.” 

Meanwhile, Zeliha opened a tattoo parlor 10 years earlier.