Cold Nights of Childhood

The narrator of Cold Nights of Childhood grows up in a rapidly changing Turkey, where the atmosphere is nationalist, patriarchal, technocratic. As a misfit in search of freedom, love and happiness, she escapes to Berlin, is overcome by depression on her return, and trapped in a psychiatry clinic for five years. After electroshock therapy and inhumane treatment, she is released into the care of friends and family, making tentative steps in a halting journey towards recovery. In her unique, unstructured style, Tezer OEzlu explores the extremity of her inner life and the painful pleasures of memory. Translated into English for the first time by Maureen Freely, this novel is a classic akin to The Bell Jar and Good Morning, Midnight.

Review: A remarkable account of mental breakdown and the long, dark road to recovery ... Maureen Freely as translator is particularly deft in capturing the beauties of OEzlu's own writing * Irish Times *
Packs a powerful punch ... there is a dreamlike quality to OEzlu's lyrical prose -- Lucy Popescu, the Tablet
Virtuosic and elliptical ... this voice neither exalts itself nor judges itself. It's uncanny how clearly OEzlu speaks of a different time yet, simultaneously, of this moment. -- Jonathan MacAloon * Financial Times *
An incredible discovery for the English-speaking world, especially for women struggling to find their own place in an society that doesn't want to make them welcome... As a record of feelings, it's as pointed as an icicle, and as soothing as a cactus. It's a fantastic read. -- Sarah Manvel * BookMunch *