Death in Troy

Death in Troy is a teeming, elliptical examination of repressed homosexuality by popular Turkish writer Bilge Karasu (1930-1995), his second novel to be translated, by Aron Aji, into English (after Night). Set mostly in the seaside town of Sarikum in the 1940s and '50s, it bounces from narrator to narrator, but focuses mainly on Mushfik Hanim, whose desire is a constant source of confusion for him (and probably for most modern American readers). Central in his life are his fanatically devoted mother, Dilaver, and Suat, the young boy he falls in love with. Sin, madness and guilt are all balanced by flashes of beautiful imagery and poetic language.