Seven Houses: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Alev Lytle Croutier's SEVEN HOUSES is a lush and powerful family novel that follows four generations of Turkish women at pivotal turning points and crossroads in their lives. Their story begins in a villa in Smyrna in 1910. Esma, a tradition-defying widow with two young sons, embarks on a tragic love affair that brings another precious gift; her daughter Aida, whose astonishing beauty is both a blessing and a curse. Her sheltered daughter Amber comes of age during the music revolution of the fifties. Amber daughter Nellie is born in America and it is through her journey back to Smyrna to find her roots that the lives of all four women come full circle. Against the backdrop of history played out across an exotic global stage, from World War I through modern times, from a silk plantation in the foothills of Mount Olympus to a high-rise apartment in a U.S. city, SEVEN HOUSES tells an unforgettable tale of love, family and the struggle to find one's place in a world of limitless horizons and dizzying change.

Reviews

San Francisco Chronicle A highly imaginative family saga...Croutier's measuered prose is artistic and sensuous.
Isabel Allende Seven Houses is an exotic and beautiful story. Alev Croutier has a rare talent for braiding history and fiction in an intricate pattern. In her writing Turkey emerges like the land of Scheherazade.
Seattle Times A superb novel!
Washington Post A lush, rich read, a satisfying weave of storytelling.

Author Bio

Alev Lytle Croutier wrote and directed the film adaptation of Tillie Olsen's TELL ME A RIDDLE. She is the author of the novella THE PALACE OF TEARS and two non-fiction works, HAREM: THE WORLD BEHIND THE VEIL and TAKING THE WATERS. Born and raised in Turkey, Croutier divides her time between San Francisco and Paris.