Red Dress in Black and White
A novel
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3.9 • 15 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
From the widely acclaimed author of Waiting for Eden: a stirring, timely new novel that unfolds over the course of a single day in Istanbul: the story of an American woman attempting to leave behind her life in Turkey--to leave without her husband.
Catherine has been married for many years to Murat, an influential Turkish real estate developer, and they have a young son together, William. But when she decides to leave her marriage and return home to the United States with William and her photographer lover, Murat determines to take a stand. He enlists the help of an American diplomat to prevent his wife and child from leaving the country--but, by inviting this scrutiny into their private lives, Murat becomes only further enmeshed in a web of deception and corruption. As the hidden architecture of these relationships is gradually exposed, we learn the true nature of a cast of struggling artists, wealthy businessmen, expats, spies, a child pulled in different directions by his parents, and, ultimately, a society in crisis. Riveting and unforgettably perceptive, Red Dress in Black and White is a novel of personal and political intrigue that casts light into the shadowy corners of a nation on the brink.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Ackerman's wry if convoluted latest (after Waiting for Eden), the story of an unhappy marriage is suffused with pointed commentary on Turkey in the months following the 2013 Gezi revolt. Catherine, an American, lives in Istanbul with her Turkish husband, Murat, a real estate developer, and their adopted seven-year-old son, William. Catherine and Murat each sacrificed early artistic ambition, she for the marriage and he for his career, and she finds comfort in an affair with Peter, a freewheeling American photojournalist on a Cultural Affairs grant for a loosely defined art project. After Catherine hatches a plan to flee to the United States with Peter and William, Murat intervenes with the help of an American diplomat. Much of the book's action takes place on the day Catherine tries to leave in November 2013, interspersed with flashbacks to pivotal moments in the characters' lives Peter's coverage of the protests to contest the development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park, Murat's complicated dependence on Istanbul's "reliably corrupt" government for business, and the shocking disclosure of William's birth mother's identity that add weight to the story of a marriage and a city embroiled in conflict. Still, the big reveal arrives too late and doesn't quite offer enough payoff to justify such dense plotting. This falls short of Ackerman's best work.
