Forty Thorns

This book is a history of Turkey from 1900 to the present, from the sultanate to the republic, of wars, revolutions and the changes within a nation, of a family and of a woman.

Adalet’s marriage was cursed but ended thirty years ago. Today, she is gone but her oral memory told to her American daughter-in-law Lee, still survives.

The spirited Adalet, granddaughter of Emin Aga of the Thracian village of Bedre laid waste by the Balkan Wars, leads with her heart, defying all to elope with Handsome Burhan, the blacksmith’s son. Her soulful war-torn love story is filled with journeys all across Anatolia and Thrace where destruction was dominant. In spite of these difficulties, she survived.

How did Adalet evolve into one of the strong women who became the backbone of a new nation? Was her strength more than faith in the progressive idealism of Ataturk, more than the values, ethnic myths and legends of her society, more than the devastation of war, disinheritance, distain and betrayal? Lee learns that one must do more than struggle to survive Forty Thorns. One must survive well.

Judy Light Ayyildiz, after teaching music for many years, became a writer and gave workshops to all ages on creative writing. For her Turkish endeavors, she has been cited by the Daughters of Ataturk, The Turkish Forum and the Nazim Hikmet Prize. She is married to a Turk, with three children and two grandchildren. Active in many professional and social organizations, she is the author of ten books in various genres. This is her first novel.