About the Book: Beginning with the line “My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten”, this novel traces the journey of Esma, a young Kurdish woman in London, returning to the trauma of her family’s past after her brother commits a terrible act. Spanning three generations and two continents—from a Kurdish village at the edge of the Euphrates to East London in 1978—Shafak explores culture, tradition, love, betrayal and the power of memory