The Lost Word

Oya Baydar

Acclaimed author Ömer Eren has writer’s block – he has lost his ‘word’. After meeting a distressed young Kurdish couple on the run from the Turkish authorities, Kurdish resistance-movement guerrillas and the woman’s own family, things begin to change, however. Emotionally distanced from his scientist wife and his son, Ömer travels to the couple’s homeland, where, as he becomes involved with an extraordinary woman and begins to comprehend the complexities of the region, he regains his sense of purpose and his creativity as hope returns. A mixture of thriller, love story and political novel, The Lost Word, by the acclaimed Oya Baydar explores the effects of violence, misplaced ambition and loss of integrity with its associated guilt, anxiety and despair. Through Ömer’s journey to the east of Turkey we have a window on the Kurdish predicament from the inside and the devastating oppression and armed conflict that the Kurdish people witness daily.

‘Oya Baydar's fine novel brings the Turkish conflict to the fore . . . In a compelling, polyphonic structure, the journeys of the protagonists are interspersed . . . That this welcome arrival in English of an important Turkish novelist coincides with a major resurgence in the Kurdish war makes it even more timely.’ – Maya Jaggi, Guardian

'Baydar's extraordinary book explores, from both sides, the nature of the armed conflict that continues in Turkey and eloquently demonstrates how violence can erupt wherever tyranny and fear coexist.' – Lucy Popescu, The Independent

'A superbly crafted novel. Oya Baydar's urgent, energetic prose is fleshed out by a lush vocabulary and gorgeous scene descriptions . . . The conundrum at its heart is the impossible quest to perfectly articulate the lived experience of others. What the best writers can do is instil in readers a desire to seek the experiences that make great stories and avoid the behaviours that inspire tragedies. At this task Baydar has succeeded admirably.' – Julia Harte, Time Out Istanbul

An inspired book.' – Liberation

‘The Lost Word is a book that cleverly mixes politics, hope, love, friendship, regret and fable. Do not miss it.’ – Amnesty

‘From this captivating tale emerges an extraordinary beauty.’ – L'Humanité

‘The Lost Word is a wonderful fresco, dense and powerful, of modern Turkey - its virtues and its paradoxes, the tensions between east and west . . .’ – La Croix

‘One of the year’s most important novels.’ – Kulturnews

‘The greatest novel of present-day Turkey.’ – Freitag

‘A powerful call for opening our hearts to human pain in the face of violence and terror.’ – Literaturmarkt