Birds Without WingsBirds Without Wings traces the fortunes of one small community in southwest Turkey (Anatolia) in the early part of the last century—a quirky community in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have co-existed peacefully over the centuries and where friendship, even love, has transcended religious differences. But with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the onset of the Great War, the sweep of history has a cataclysmic effect on this peaceful place: The great love of Philothei, a Christian girl of legendary beauty, and Ibrahim, a Muslim shepherd who courts her from near infancy, culminates in tragedy and madness; Two inseparable childhood friends who grow up playing in the hills above the town suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of the bloody struggle; and Rustem Bey, a wealthy landlord, who has an enchanting mistress who is not what she seems. Far away from these small lives, a man of destiny who will come to be known as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is emerging to create a country from the ruins of an empire. Victory at Gallipoli fails to save the Ottomans from ultimate defeat and, as a new conflict arises, Muslims and Christians struggle to survive, let alone understand, their part in the great tragedy that will reshape the whole region forever. |
Contents
The Prologue of Iskander the Potter | 3 |
Iskander the Potter Remembers the Birth of Philothei | 8 |
Mustafa Kemal 1 | 16 |
iam philothei 1 | 19 |
Mustafa Kemal 2 | 25 |
The Dog | 28 |
Am Philothei 2 | 37 |
Mustafa Kemal 3 | 38 |
The Humiliation of Daskalos Leonidas | 230 |
Mustafa Kemal 10 | 243 |
Am Philothei 9 | 246 |
Of Righteousness and Wrongdoing | 248 |
Mustafa Kemal 11 | 252 |
The Exchange | 256 |
The Sadness of Rustem Bey | 267 |
A Small Act of Kindness | 270 |
IO How Karatavuk and Mehmetçik Came to Be Called Karatavuk and Mehmetçik | 40 |
Ibrahim Gives Philothei a Goldfinch | 46 |
The Proof of Innocence 1 | 48 |
A Bad Start | 57 |
Mariora Returns to the Light | 63 |
The Message to Mariora | 73 |
Mustafa Kemal Infantry Lieutenant 1474 4 | 78 |
Of Reading and Writing | 80 |
Am Philothei 3 | 84 |
The Telltale Shoes | 85 |
Mustafa Kemal 5 | 98 |
Am Philothei 4 | 101 |
Ayse Remembers Tamara | 102 |
Tamaras Refuge | 107 |
Am Philothei 5 | 116 |
Tales from the Journey to Smyrna | 117 |
Mustafa Kemal 6 | 134 |
The Tyranny of Honour | 137 |
The Humiliation of Levon the Armenian | 143 |
Am Philothei 6 | 148 |
Mustafa Kemal His Own Policeman 7 | 150 |
The Circassian Mistress 1 | 152 |
The Circassian Mistress 2 | 156 |
The Circassian Mistress 3 | 162 |
Rustem Bey and Leyla Hanım | 173 |
Am Philothei 7 | 182 |
A Cure for Toothache | 183 |
Mustafa Kemal 8 | 189 |
Exiled in Cephalonia Drosoula Remembers Leyla and Philothei | 192 |
The Seduction of Rustem Bey | 201 |
The Veiling of Philothei | 212 |
An Embarrassing Question | 220 |
Mustafa Kemal 9 | 222 |
Am Philothei 8 | 226 |
In Which a Playful Conversation Takes a Bad Turn | 227 |
The Removal | 273 |
Olives | 283 |
Mustafa Kemal 12 | 284 |
The Letter from Karatavuk | 286 |
Karatavuk Remembers 1 | 297 |
Karatavuk Remembers 2 | 304 |
Karatavuk Remembers 3 | 309 |
Mustafa Kemal 13 | 313 |
Am Philothei 10 | 316 |
The Letter to Karatavuk | 318 |
Karatavuk Remembers 4 | 324 |
Mustafa Kemal 14 | 335 |
Karatavuk Remembers 5 | 337 |
Fikret and the Goat 6 | 339 |
The Death of Fikret 7 | 342 |
Mustafa Kemal 15 | 354 |
Tamara Receives a Visitor | 365 |
The Death of Abdulhamid Hodja | 377 |
Mustafa Kemal 16 | 384 |
Lieutenant Granitolas Occupation 1 | 391 |
Mustafa Kemal 17 | 399 |
Lieutenant Granitolas Occupation 2 | 406 |
Mustafa Kemal 18 | 418 |
So Mustafa Kemal 19 | 426 |
Mustafa Kemal 20 | 438 |
Mustafa Kemal 21 | 445 |
Mustafa Kemal 22 | 459 |
Exodus | 466 |
Leyla Hanıms Letter to Rustem Bey | 482 |
The Wounding of Karatavuk | 507 |
What the New Imam Did | 525 |
The Epilogue of Iskander the Potter | 532 |
The Epilogue of Karatavuk the LetterWriter | 545 |
POSTSCRIPT | 552 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abdul Abdulhamid Hodja Anatolia anyway Arab Armenian arms army arrived asked Ayse backgammon beautiful become birds boys British called Cephalonia Charitos Christians Circassian donkey Drosoula Efendi Enver Enver Pasha Eskibahçe eyes face Father Kristoforos feel felt Fethiye Fikret Frankish Franks Gallipoli gendarmes Gerasimos girls goat Granitola Greece Greek hamam hand happened head heard heart husband Ibrahim imam Iskander Iskander the Potter Istanbul Italians Karatavuk Kardelen killed kissed knew labour battalions Leonidas Levon Leyla Hanım lips live looked Louis de Bernières Lydia Mehmetçik meydan mother Muslims Mustafa Kemal never night Osman Ottoman Pasha Philothei Polyxeni realised remember Rustem Bey Salonika Sergeant shit side smiled Smyrna soldiers someone stones suddenly Sultan Tamara tell Telmessos things thought told tombs took town trenches troops Turkish Turks turned whilst wife woman women wonder