I´ll have to check it out sometime. In Amazon´s blurb on it is interesting to read "Mary Settle offers us an intimate portrait of a Turkey rarely seen-a land where the cutting of a tree is a crime," Obviously times have changed. 

some other suggestions are

Blood Tie  again Mary Lee Settle - In ways reminiscent of "The Ugly American", "Blood Tie" explores the lives of a group of expatriates and reveals the impacts they have on the Turks living in a small coastal community along the Aegean. Settle does a beautiful and poignant job of immersing the reader in the landscape and lives of the characters. The story is believable and accurate. Her writing transported me back the town on which the setting is based. Excellent reading for those seeking to understand social transformations taking place in Turkey in recent decades.

Birds Without Wings -BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS is a rare specimen in the genre of historical novels: a success. It is a compelling, readable, and historically credible tale of love and tragedy at the time of the Ottoman collapse in Turkey. Told from multiple points of view, with chapters narrated by the diverse cast of characters themselves and biographical segments on the career of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, this novel tells the story of how modern secular Turkey was forged out of the crucible of the Balkan Wars, World War I and the Greek War of Independence. The narrators are the ordinary men and women -- Christian and Muslim, Greek and Turk -- of a small village near Telmessos (now Fethiye) in southwestern Turkey. The stories they tell of war, loss and survival are fully human and utterly heartrending. I will not soon forget de Bernieres´ sorrowful depiction of the cross-deportations of Greeks and Turks from lands they had inhabited for centuries. Neither will I forget the dignity and romance of characters like the aga Rustem Bey, his mistress Leyla Hanim and the village imam Abdulhamid Hodja.

Anatolian Days & Nights: A Love Affair with Turkey -  write vividly about their journeys through a one of the world s most vibrant countries. The landscape and people slip beneath your skin until you are no longer sure whether you´ve become a part of Turkey or whether Turkey has become a part of you. As a frequent visitor to Turkey, I applaud Stocke and Brenner for skillfully weaving a tale that leaves me yearning to return

Have a happy reading day to all

Well, based on your suggestion, I have ordered Blood Tie, Turkish Reflections, Bastard of Istanbul and Birds without Wings...I am anxiously awaiting delivery of the books. I need some new reading material. 

Have you ever heard of Lesley Blanch? She wrote The Wilder Shores of Love, about four English women, Isabel Burton, Lady Jane Digby, Isabelle Eberhardt, and Aimée du Buc de Rivéry, a cousin of Josephine, The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus (a biography of Imam Shamyl and history of Imperialist Russian rule in early 19th century Georgia and the Caucasus) I was amazed to find the conflict in that area appears to have been going on so long. It´ like today´s problems are an outgrowth of the ones in Ms. Blanch´s book. 
Ms. Blanch is an interesting woman in her own right. She lived to the age of 103, passing away recently in 2007.

I found you, but I don´t see book reviews. You have one on Kurban Bayram. I don´t read Today´s Zaman often, but will check on your column now.

 No, that´s me. Do you read mine every week in Sunday´s Zaman??  They´re on the arts and culture page.

I read blood tie and birds without wings (actually read that one twice since...SOOOOO GOOD!)  I also recommend Forty Thorns by Judy Ayyildiz.  The story is actually about Ms. Ayyildiz´s mother in law who lived through the Balkin Wars and WWI and it´s aftermath...very interesting.

Well now I´m on pins & needles waiting for the books to arrive. I´ve met quite a few people from the period of Birds without Wings, but at the time I didn´t realize their history. Now in retrospect, reading things like this helps me understand them. Most are gone now, but I was lucky enough to have met more than a few. 

 Hi - yes I definitely recommend this true story. Judy has a great understanding of Turkey, plus she is a wonderful story teller.

 hi - the link you put up is for the columnist Charlotte McPherson.

I´m on the Arts and Culture page, every Sunday. Last week the article was entitled "Once Upon a Time, There Was and There Was Not" and it was about Ahmet Ümit´s "A Tale Within a Tale."

Preview: next sunday will be about the first female candidate for president of Afghanistan - her book is "The Favored Daughter"

I have finished reading  Elif Shafak´s newest book Honor

Twin girls growing up in a small  village in Turkey, it tells how their lives change and differ when one leaves the village and one remains. It touches on many subjects including forced/arranged marriages , domestic violence, the disgrace of having girls, and of honor killing, cheating husbands, and the trials and tribulations of moving into a foreign country and trying to fit in.  It is very reflective and digs deep into all charactors, leaves you with a great understanding of their faults, thoughts and traits and yet you still want to care for them. Well worth the read.

I finished Bastard of Istanbul, and am now reading Birds without Wings. I much prefer the authorship of Birds without Wings to that of the Bastard of Istanbul.  Perhaps it was the translation?  The language style in Birds is exquisite. I think Ms.Şafak needs to mature as an author. 

As I have spent most of my live in California, and the NYC area, both have very large diaspora Armenian population, I heard about the terrible Turks long before I ever met a Turk, so much so in fact that I had taken the "Genocide" issue to be a matter of uncontested fact & I was terrified of Turks, as I was under the impression they were some sort of heartless blood thirsty monsters. I thought it was an uncontested fact.

It was only after meeting a few Turkish people, who seemed to be very nice and pleasant people, that I started questioning the matter.  After actually doing some historic research of my own, I came to different opinions on the matter.  It is sad so  many horrific events happened to everyone at that time. 

From my experience I´ve found the Armenians quite closed minded regarding the matter. There is no discussion, and it can be dangerous to express any divergent opinion, or thoughts on the matter.  I know from experience.  Old friends became very hateful towards me if I questioned the matter. 

Given that background, I think Ms. Şafak has captured the situation very well. Her description of the American Armenian attitude is, sadly, accurate. Also, her take on the Turks perception is accurate as well.  

War is Hell, over 40 million people died from the Great Influenza epidemic in 1918, which most probably was a result of the war. It was the first time troops could be flown from the trenches to home, carrying the disease around the world is short time. 

I´m a third of the way through Birds without Wings and recognize the sadness experienced by the disruption of a diverse community. I know if all of any of the many ethnic groups I live with were to leave en mass, it would be tragic and sad. I´ve met many people who were living in parts of the former Ottoman territories, who relocated. It was sad to feel their sorrow. I had a friend from Tunis, who was from an Italian background, who had to join the Italian army during WWII. he longed go to back to Tunis, but he never could. His family had lived there for generations. 

Why can´t we get along?

Birds Without Wings made me cry A LOT!!!  The author did a wonderful job of conveying the deep sadness of ALL people during that time period.  My husband´s Grandmother lived to be 105.  She would tell us stories of life during World War I.  Most of her stories were so similar to what was described in Birds...It truely was a brilliantly told novel.

You may also like Captain Correlli´s Mandolin which was by the same author.