"Altun offers us three delights for the price of one: a brilliantly
edgy, witty thriller that rivals Highsmith; a metaphysical puzzle that
Borges would be proud to call his own; and a tale of two assassins that
conveys, better than any other novel I have read, the way that money
talks in Istanbul."--Maureen Freely
A deft, zinging whodunnit which is also a metaphysical puzzle worthy of
the Oulipo group. Altun's prose has a dreamlike urgency; his novel is a
major achievement.--John Ashbery
After the death of his overbearing mother, the privileged Arda reclines
in his wealth, reflecting on his young life and on the life of his
father, the famous mathematician Mürsel Ergenekon, who was murdered on
Arda's fourteenth birthday. While on the other side of the city, "your
humble servant" Bedirhan has decided to pack in his ten-year career as
an assassin.
Their two lives become intrinsically bound in this remarkable thriller
that takes us through the streets of Istanbul. We learn that Bedirhan in
fact killed Arda's father, and that they share more in common than he or
we could imagine.
Meanwhile, Selçuk Altun, a former family friend, is playing a deadly
game, providing Arda with clues to track down his father's killer.
Selçuk Altun was born in Artvin, Turkey, in 1950. He lives in
Istanbul, and Songs My Mother Never Taught Me is his fourth novel to
be published in Turkish. He is a retired banking executive and a
bibliophile.
