Three Daughters of Eve

October 2, 2017
Shafak’s ambitious novel (after The Architect’s Apprentice) follows Peri Nalbantoglu, namely her memories of childhood and a scandal in which she was involved long ago at Oxford. On her way to a dinner party in the present, Peri has a violent encounter with a vagrant on the streets in Istanbul. She escapes, but when a photograph of her with her two university friends, Shirin and Mona, falls out of her purse during the struggle, it leads her to reminisce. She thinks back to her days at Oxford when she met Shirin, a vivacious, popular student. Peri decided to take a class with Shirin’s beloved mentor, professor Anthony Azur, who teaches a seminar about God. Azur inspires love, hate, and obsession among his students and colleagues, and Peri soon falls for him, eventually causing a rift between her and her friends. The novel’s debate on the nature of God presents opposing viewpoints through the various characters: Shirin, like Peri’s father, becomes an atheist, while Peri’s roommate Mona brandishes a different kind of feminist-tinged Muslim devotion than Peri’s zealous mother, and various students at the seminar voice their opinions along with Azur. Pronouncements from newly awakened college kids in Azur’s class sometimes tip into tedium. Events jarringly come out of left field as current-day Peri tries to reconcile with Shirin and Azur, and the narrative itself ends abruptly. But readers interested in debates about the nature of God will find the book intriguing.

Narrator Alix Dunmore's warm, lush voice escorts listeners through the dark streets and alleys of Istanbul as they enter 35-year-old Peri's life. Peri is headed to an elegant dinner party when a thief steals her purse. She fends off the attacker, and in the scuffle, a long forgotten photograph falls from her purse. Dunmore slips in and out of Peri's present and past. Her delivery of snarky comments is spot-on as Peri considers the posh guests and their inane conversations at the party. Even as she sits at dinner, the photo nags at her, taking her back to her Oxford days, three friends, and a betrayal. Dunmore's genteel, artful, and real performance brings Turkey's political and spiritual schisms front and center while shining a light on women's oppression. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine