About the Author

Sema Kaygusuz is one of Turkey's leading contemporary female writers. Her debut novel, "Yere DUsen Dualar" ("Wine and Gold") won international recognition upon publication in 2006. In 2007, she wrote the screenplay for Yesim Ustaoglu's film "Pandora'nin Kutusu" ("Pandora's Box"), which won the Golden Shell at the 2008 International Film Festival in San Sebastian. She is a recipient of both the Cevdet-Kudret-Literature Award and the France-Turquie Literary Award. Maureen Freely is an American journalist, novelist, professor, and translator. She grew up in Turkey and now lives in England, where she lectures at the University of Warwick and contributes to the "Guardian" and the "Independent" newspapers. She is the author of "The Life of the Party" and "The Other Rebecca," and is best known as the Turkish-English translator of Orhan Pamuk's recent novels.