''Three Daughters of Eve'' is a 2016 novel by

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

writer

Elif Safak Elif Shafak ( ; née Bilgin; born 25 October 1971) is a British Turks, Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, Political science, political scientist and activist. Shafak writes in Turkish language, Turkish and English language, En ...

.Farid, Faiza
"Trying to find a middle ground in religion, Three Daughters of Eve raises more questions than it answers"
''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Lakson Group'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the '' Intern ...

'', 7 March 2019 In many places, the book was recalled and retitled ''Confused Quest''. The book centres on a wealthy woman in her thirties, her childhood in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and her time as a student at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

where she fell in love with a

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

professor. It focuses on her categorizing her identity. The book was featured on several lists of "best books" in 2018.

Summary

The book describes the present and past of Peri, who was born and raised in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

by her parents. She has two brothers who are quite dissimilar to her. Her parents are very different as her father never cared much about religion and her mother is a devout

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. Peri is confused when it comes to matters of religion."Book Review: Three Daughters of Eve – journey into romance, religion"
''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', 15 August 2019 For this reason, while studying at

, she attends a lecture on God given by a professor of the campus, Azur. The book also provides a look into Peri’s teenage love life and its aftermath. In short, "Set in modern-day Istanbul, this riveting book follows Peri — married, wealthy, and on her way to a party. As her night unfolds, bringing with it a series of terrorist attacks, she finds herself lost in memories of the friends she made while studying at Oxford University, and the scandal that tore them apart."

Plot

Istanbul (1980s–2016)

The book starts in

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

, where Peri is with her daughter when she is robbed and is subject to an attempted rape. Her early childhood of the 1980s and home life are also discussed in the same city.

Oxford

In her late teenage years, Peri left to study at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and met Professor Azur, who changed her life. Peri also meets two women at the campus: Mona, an

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian who is a true

, and Shirin, who is a faithless

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian. The book discusses these three characters, denoting them as the "Sinner", the "Believer" and the "Confused".

Characters

Peri

Nazperi Nalbantoğlu is the main character of the book. She was brought up in Istanbul. She is married and has a pair of twins who are in their teenage years when the story is related. Peri is a person who is stuck between faith and doubt. "Islam, for her, was reminiscent of a childhood memory — so very familiar and personal but also somehow vague, far removed in time and space. Like a cube of sugar dissolved in her coffee, there and not there." The book discusses her past life; her childhood and her teenage years when she was in love with a professor while she was studying at Oxford, and her present life in Istanbul as a wealthy Turkish wife. She is the "Confused" one in the book.

Deniz

Deniz is the daughter of Peri. She is discussed in the opening scene when Peri is faced with a robbery, and several other times at different intervals in the book.

Azur

Professor Azur is a Philosophy lecturer at Oxford and a reputed personality on campus. He teaches a very unusual course on God. Peri later falls in love with him which completely overwhelms her. Her consequential actions contribute to him being later on expelled from the university.

Shirin

Shirin is Peri's friend who is considered to be the most one-dimensional character of the three. She is an Iranian girl who has no interest in the matter of religion. In the book she is denoted as the "Sinner".

Mona

Mona is a sincere Muslim. She wears a

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

and is a true

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

who belongs to

. In the book she is called a "Believer".

Themes

The story is about blending faith and uncertainty. According to Shafak, "The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free." She has shown her interest in matters of belief and uncertainty on religion as she said in an interview:

I am interested in the dance between belief and doubt. I am not a religious person in any sense. In reality, I do not like organized religions nor collective identities, but I am spiritual in my own way. I have respect for both faith and doubt. People like me -
agnostics Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
, heterodox mystics and humanists - are a minority in Turkey. But we exist and are able to challenge this duality between
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
and absolute religiousness."Books: Turkey slipping backwards, says novelist Shafak"
"ANSA med", November 17