My seven years spent in Turkey as a tenured teacher seconded abroad on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Italian High School in Istanbul, left an indelible mark on me for my unusual journey.
Reflecting on my personal experience revisited in the light of subsequent events, the story of “THE BOSPHORUS BRIDE” was born, a woman full of contradictions.
The plot focuses on an Italian artist who, wearing a wedding dress, wants to create a pacifist and humanitarian performance starting from Istanbul where she meets her Turkish friend Deniz with whom she had previously planned her artistic mission.
The project, long cherished by the two women but misunderstood by some extremists and Turkish political circles, undergoes a series of unexpected events … They are persecuted by some mysterious spies with disturbing implications, like shadows on which the suspicions of the Turkish police hover; some palace intrigues and politically motivated murders in which they could be involved.
Behind the scenes, there is a mysterious engineer-minister who takes them under his wing. He is the supreme architect of the underlying picture with a surprise effect…Political events, from the Arab Spring to the winds of a civil war in Syria, seem to hinder their path due to the escalation of internal and international extremism (Kurds, Grey Wolves, Russian spies, etc.).
Added to this is the danger of Islamic infiltration, which spreads along the borders of south-eastern and north-eastern Turkey (Syria, Iraq, Iran), and the Middle Eastern tensions in continuous and worrying escalation. As a result of a slow motion, some incredible short films unfold before the eyes of the two main protagonists.
Crimes in the name of passion and politics, in the rarefied and magical atmosphere of old Istanbul, overlap with the charm of some suggestive glimpses, described with lyrical clarity.
In the background, the figures of different women stand out: Meltem (nicknamed Kara), a romantic woman and innovative artist; her Turkish friend Deniz, intolerant of the rampant machismo; Fatoş, victim of her husband-boss; Vera, a teacher abroad with two daughters who, despite a thousand difficulties and mistrusts, recognizes the need for a full immersion in the local culture.
Other women still appear on the scene, with their differences in character and tenacity in understanding the multi-ethnic and multicultural context, to which Kara intends to adapt before embarking on her journey, forcing herself to learn the difficult Turkish language in order to overcome all adversities in the future.
The journey, in the end, represents an opportunity for growth in female awareness, especially for Muslim women, about their material and cultural conditions in a world in which, only in words, “equal opportunities” between the two sexes are praised.
Meltem, an artist suspended between reality and dream, represents, together with her friend Deniz, the aspiration for freedom and redemption of all women.
It is no coincidence that Istanbul, with its old lady air, poised between East and West, reproduces the ideal setting for the events described, while the trip to Nemrut Daǧi wants to signify the search for their common roots in the arcane eternal fixity of its colossal stone statues.
Enchantment and disenchantment, linked together by a spiral of contemplation-action, follow one another in a continuum that from an initial and almost fantastic lightness, transforms into a labyrinth of incredible situations.
At the beginning of the book, you could glimpse the memory of the sad human story that happened in Turkey to the Italian artist Pippa Bacca. That tragic event is only the initial cue to narrate my experience, partly fictional and partly autobiographical, which splits into two characters: Meltem, a dreamer artist, and Vera, a teacher abroad with two daughters. A surprise ending! Enjoy reading!
I thank the poet and publisher, Ali Imran, for publishing the synopsis of my novel (350 pages) on my experience in a spy story in Istanbul (Turkey) as a tenured professor of “Design and Art History”, seconded there for seven years, after having passed several linguistic selections on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome (Italy).
In truth, through my life experience, stories of women have taken shape between noir and spy story in the enchanted and rarefied atmosphere of old Istanbul balanced between two continents.
I hope that from this novel, a true descriptive screenplay of customs and habits, characteristic places, ancient mosques and Turkish landscapes, from the Bosphorus to Mount Nemrut (southern Turkey), a film can be made on the artistic performance of “Spose in Viaggio” and the unfortunate story of the Italian artist Pippa Bacca, returned to the fore through my lens and my human feeling.