The novel examines the lives of four women in the 1990s.
Novelist Neslihan Stamboli loves to research, and this time around, with her new novel Aşkın Dört Hâli (Four States of Love, Ayrıkotu Yayıncılık) she wanted to write about a period she herself witnessed, the 1990s. The reason can best be conveyed by an excerpt from her book: “They said that the year 1993 would go down in history as the darkest twelve months of the country, but never mentioned that it would mark the beginning of an era when the women of this land, both in their private lives and in their careers, courageously and loudly gave expression to their freedom, fearlessly defended their rights and, shaking off their dependence on men, became aware of their own power.” The novel examines the lives of four women living in Istanbul in this interesting decade and their journey to self-awareness and liberation in their personal lives and careers.
Inspiration flows in from all directions for Stamboli: “A word, a scent, a taste, a sentence I read, a piece of news I hear, a flicker of joy imperceptible to the undiscerning eye wakes a fairy in me and with the touch of her magical wand stories start coming alive in my mind’s eye.” Stamboli has a trilogy, indeed possibly even a quartet in the works: “Like two of my previous novels, it also has a historical background, an epic novel spreading over a wide range of locations from Nevşehir to Istanbul, to New York, to Buenos Aires and finally to Athens.” When not writing, Stamboli paints, an activity she finds to have a magical effect.
Published July 2023
