Many and Many a Year Ago

July 27, 2009
Altun's second novel to be made available in the U.S. has a premise almost as intriguing as his first, Songs My Mother Never Taught Me
, but the execution is less successful. Kemal Kuray's meteoric ascent to the top of the Turkish Air Force comes to an abrupt end after the engine of the plane he's piloting fails. Barely escaping serious injury, he's assigned to coordinate a secret translation project, during which he befriends Suat Altan, a technology consultant working on the project to complete his military service. Later, Kemal learns from Suat's identical twin, Fuat, that Suat, who's vanished, has left behind a cryptic note for Kemal and arranged for monthly payments to him of $5,000 a month after his retirement. Kemal spends the rest of the book seeking the purpose, as well as the true meaning, of Suat's message. If Poe's fans are meant to be enticed by the title, taken from Poe's poem “Annabel Lee,” they will find little to chew on.