This book is a bildungsroman comprising three interrelated novels about Pertev Bey’s family: Pertev Bey’s Three Daughters, Pertev Bey’s Two Daughters, and Pertev Bey’s Grandchildren.

 

One of the significant names in memoir writing, Münevver Ayaşlı masterfully pens this novel with a tripartite structure built around real time, location and episode. She analyzes individual, family and social corrup on through Miralaya Pertev Bey’s daughters, grandchildren, and crowds of relatives. She narrates the reasons for the Ottoman Empire’s collapse, which she had witnessed and also experienced first-hand. The Pertev Bey Trilogy is a comprehensive “period novel” based on historical facts.