From Life Itself

'A gripping portrait of a crisis-ridden Turkey' PANKAJ MISHRA 'A richly textured human history .. elegantly maps out Turkey's hard-right turn' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'An ambitious, alive and lovingly written portrait of everyday life' GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY 'Hansen writes fluently and colourfully and has a sharp eye for detail' SUNDAY TIMES Pulitzer finalist Suzy Hansen chronicles the age of authoritarianism in Turkey - through an intimate portrait of its people In the midst of a world in upheaval, Erdogan has remade Turkey in his own image. Once a shining portal that straddled East and West, Istanbul's streets now teem with nationalistic fervour, political repression and rampant corruption. And it's here, in the old Ottoman neighbourhood of Karagumruk, that Suzy Hansen goes looking for the truth about modern Turkey. Through the lives of its inhabitants, Hansen shows how local conflicts are spiralling into regional crises, deepening the fault lines now fracturing Europe and the Middle East. A dazzling account of a nation on the frontlines of history, From Life Itself chronicles the rise of an autocrat, the resurrection of an empire - and the human stories unfolding in its shadow. 'A dizzying tour de force that leaves the reader with a sense of wonder' ELIF BATUMAN

SUZY HANSEN lived for more than a decade in Istanbul, where she was a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. She has written for publications including the New Yorker, Observer, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books and many more. Her first book, Notes on a Foreign Country, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction and the winner of the Overseas Press Club of America's Cornelius Ryan Award. She has taught writing at Princeton University, New York University, and Bard College. She lives in New York.