Translated from the Turkish
by Saliha Paker and Mel Kenne  

This is one of the most original books you could hope to find. Be daring and find a copy to read. You will not be disappointed.

Halilhan Sunteriler, would-be entrepreneur, rescues a red Volvo from the scrap heap, which he believes will lead him to big money in business ventures. So he solicits the help of his staunch friend Gogi, the most 'cultured’ man of the neighbourhood, and gradually, Halilhan’s two younger brothers, Hazmi and Mesut, are also drawn into the project. Hazmi is aggressive and fights Halilhan whenever he gets a chance, Mesut lives too much in the shadow of his wife to confront his elder brother, and as for Halilhan, he is too busy having affairs to take much notice of either of them – or his wife Rübeysa.

‘A nihilistic wit reminiscent of Samuel Beckett’
Independent on Sunday

With penetrating insights into the poor man’s tragi-comic hunt for money in the surreal world of commerce, the final confrontation of brothers Halilhan and Hazmi provides the ‘open-end’ for a story of unending struggle.

Swords of Ice, one of Latife Tekin’s best-loved novels, is part of a trilogy (with Dear Shameless Death and Berji Kristin) based on her concern to voice the language of the underprivileged rural poor who migrate to city.

Latife Tekin was born in 1957 in Karacafenck, in the Turkish province of Kayseri. She started writing the day after the coup d'etat in 1980. She is a major bestseller in Turkey.

To read an extract of this title click here

'Latife Tekin is an original and talented writer...the novel concludes with a scattering of poetic phrases, desperate and beautiful. It is a perplexing book that manages to dabble with nihilism, whilst retaining a delicate sense of humour. As Tekin aptly concludes in a post-scriptum: ‘Writing! Faithful foe of the poor! I have used you to deepen even more the enigma of our ragged lives.' Edinburgh Review

Also published by Marion Boyars:
Dear Shameless Death (0-7145-3054-9) £8.99
Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills
(0-7145-30115) £7.95/$14.95

£7.99/$14.95
Original Paperback 208pp
FICTION
ISBN: 978-0-7145-3135-9
Publication Date: August 2007
World English