Stone and Shadow

Avdo is a skilled maker of gravestones. Orphaned as a boy in Mardin, close to the Syrian border, he becomes the apprentice of an old stonemason, Master Josef, who teaches him that their craft keeps the memory of the dead. Later he wanders across the country and finds Elif, a woman he loves with his whole heart, before a crime takes her from him. Withdrawn into his workshop among the graves, perhaps believing that no truth is greater than death, he still cannot shut life out: its griefs, joys and injustices keep drawing him back. Weaving in fragments of twentieth-century Turkish history, the Ottoman past, the Middle East and Europe, the novel portrays a society of Christians, Sunnis, Alevis, Turks, Kurds and Armenians.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

328 pages in the original

Genres

Historical, Love (assigned by AI)

Set in

Türkiye

First published

2021 by İletişim Yayınları

Author's age

56 when first published

ISBN

9789750530432 (original)

9781635422771 (Other Press, United States)