Enlightenment

Starred review from March 10, 2008
At the start of Freely’s complex, often riveting novel set in contemporary and Cold War Turkey, a journalist known only as “Miss M” returns to Istanbul in 2005 after a long absence at the request of Jeannie Wakefield, whose father, William, was an American spy. Jeannie hopes that Miss M will write an article to help her husband, once Miss M’s lover, who’s been detained in the United States and sent to Guantánamo. A few months later, Jeannie disappears, leaving behind a long letter detailing events from the 1960s. The main narrative threads—extracts from Jeannie’s letter; Miss M’s memories of Istanbul from that same period and her present-day account of investigating Jeannie’s long-ago indoctrination into a Communist cell, which was at one point charged with the infamous but possibly apocryphal Trunk Murder—interweave toward a quietly stunning conclusion. Both mystery/thriller and mainstream literary readers will be well rewarded. Freely is the English translator of Nobel Prize–winner Orhan Pamuk’s novel, Snow
.

Starred review from April 1, 2008
In 1970 Istanbul, Jeannie, the daughter of an American CIA agent, falls in love with Sinan, a student radical who is alienated from America by its persistent support of Turkish corruption. Sinan is imprisoned on trumped-up charges, but years later, the lovers reunite and marry, living peacefully for a while. Then, without warning, on a visit to the States, Sinan is arrested by Homeland Security as a suspected terrorist, leaving Jeannie scrambling to reach her husband and recover their child from foster care. When Jeannie, too, disappears, a reporter unearths truths that alter our perception of all that has transpired. Freely ("The Other Rebecca"), who has translated Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's recent works (e.g., "Snow"), possesses an exceptional command of language: her sentences are so apt, they jump out at you. The ending is a letdown, but that is a forgivable failing, all things considered. In this ingenious novel about appearance and reality, it is difficult to predict what will happen next or what it means, but once you start this book, you will not put it down. Strongly recommended for general collections.David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2008
It is no secret that most Americans dont understand the complex web of social and political intricacies that define life in contemporary Turkey. Freely seeks to unravel both a mystery mired in the past and an archaic societal system that seems out of sync in the present. When Jeannie Wakefield disappears a few months after her Turkish husband is detained, an American journalist with Turkish ties identified only as Miss M receives a rambling missive from Jeannie detailing a tragic tale of deception and intrigue. Miss Ms tantalizing investigations involving international espionage and a grisly murder mystery stretch back and forth through time as she pieces together both Jeannies story and her own. Freely tops off this riveting narrative of cold war and post 9/11 Turkey with a chillingly unexpected revelation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)