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Stone and Shadow

A Novel

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Stone and Shadow

By: Burhan Sönmez
Narrated by: Neil Shah
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About this listen

This gorgeous, haunting saga tells the story of modern Turkey and its diverse communities through the life of a gravestone maker.

In the city of Mardin, near Turkey’s border with Syria, the orphaned Avdo finds purpose when an old mason takes him on as an apprentice. From Master Josef, he learns the importance of their art, which looks after the dead and bears witness to their lives. Avdo then travels the country and meets a woman he loves wholeheartedly, only to lose her through a tragic crime. Resigned to a lonely existence, he retreats from the world into his cemetery workshop, but even there, life, with all its sorrows, joys, injustices, and gifts, draws him in unexpected directions.

An intimate, indelible epic, Stone and Shadow melds fragments not only from twentieth-century Turkish history, but also from the Ottoman Empire, the wider Middle East, and Europe. Together they form a breathtaking picture of a rich, complex society that encompasses Christians, Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Turks, Kurds, and Armenians.

©2021 İletişim Yayınları. Copyright © 2021 Burhan Sönmez. English translation copyright © 2023 Kalem Agency (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction World Literature Middle East Ottoman Empire Imperialism
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Stone and Shadow was written in a very poetic way and it was great listening experience. From the story line to the character’s, from the sociological, political, psychological, historical and mythology , it brings layers of depth and analysis of culture, religion and the history of a nation. I loved everything about this book from the exceptional writer to an excellent translation and equally grate narrative by the reader… everything was great! I will definitely read the other books of the author and would also follow the narrator for other books he may have read.

Felt like a modern day fairy tale, poetic but real at the same time

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