Aysha

Powerful, emotional, and beautifully written, Alan Drew’s stunning first novel brings to life two unforgettable families - one Kurdish, one American - and the sacrifice and love that bind them together. In a small town outside Istanbul, Sinan Basioglu, a devout Muslim, and his wife, Nilüfer, are preparing for their nine-year-old son’s coming-of-age ceremony. Their headstrong 15-year-old daughter, İrem, resents the attention her brother, Ismail, receives from their parents. For her, there was no such festive observance.

At the heart of this vibrant saga is an immense ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its purpose to fight China's vicious 19th-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.

Paris Never Leaves You is full of fascinating characters: models, vintners, poets, and especially artists and those who fawn on them and prey on them. Their glittering world forms the backdrop for a modern-day Cinderella story. A stunned Djuna Cortez has just inherited the estate of eccentric artist Joaquim Carlos Cortez - and learned that he is her grandfather. Barely 21, Djuna is soon overwhelmed by the City of Lights. She falls in love with a handsome winemaker who seems to be the man of her dreams, but discovers that she is living a nightmare. Isolated in the French countryside, Djuna finds salvation in reading her grandfather's journals which spin a mesmerizing tale of the young artist in 1930s Paris, facing with the rest of the city the advances of Nazi forces. From her grandfather's struggles and tragedies, Djuna gathers the strength to finally break free from her abusive husband and take the steps necessary to preserve her life, her sanity, her fortune, and her grandfather's powerful artistic legacy.