Described as “vivid and entertaining” by the Chicago Tribune, The Bastard of Istanbul is a rich, multilayered novel from the acclaimed author of The Island of Missing Trees—a Reese’s Book Club Pick. In San Francisco, Armenian-American Armanoush is caught between cultures, yearning to uncover the missing pieces of her identity. Her search takes her to Turkey, the land of her ancestors. In Istanbul, 19-year-old Asya lives in a lively, all-female household and spends her days immersed in French existentialist philosophy and the music of Johnny Cash. As these two young women’s paths cross, the secrets of their intertwined families begin to unravel, revealing a hidden connection rooted in a traumatic chapter of their shared history. With warmth, wit, and compassion, The Bastard of Istanbul explores memory and denial, the burden of the past, and what it means to belong—to a family, to a country, and to oneself.