title: Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey (Seal Women's Travel)
author:  Anastasia M. Ashman 
description: "Absolutely riveting. These memoirs offer much more than glimpses of domestic Turkey. Men should read them and be informed." -- <i>Tim Severin, world explorer, author and filmmaker who has followed in the footsteps of historic adventurers like Marco Polo and Sinbad the Sailor, and a regular contributor to <i>National Geographic</i></i><br /><br />"Absorbing personal adventures reveal Turkey with depth, sincerity and delight. I've been waiting a long time for this book!" -- <i>Tom Brosnahan, veteran guidebook author for <i>Berlitz</i>, <i>Frommers</i> and <i>Lonely Planet</i>, originator of <i>Lonely Planet Turkey</i>, founder of the Turkey Travel Planner website and author of travel memoir <i>Turkey: Bright Sun, Strong Tea</i></i><br /><br />"An excellent holiday read." -- <i><i>Lonely Planet Turkey</i> (2007)</i><br /><br />"Closely observed, finely wrought. Vividly depicts invaluable life lessons when people are obliged to cope in an alien world." -- <i>Craig Storti, director of the cross-cultural training firm Communicating Across Cultures, and best-selling author of <i>The Art of Crossing Cultures</i></i><br /><br />"Impressive. [These women] lead the way in reconciling the many conflicts and misunderstandings between east and west." -- <i><i>Publishing Trends</i>, June 2005, an intelligence newsletter for the American publishing industry</i><br /><br />"The beauty of Tales is that each story paints Turkey as the narrator experiences it, and, together, the stories construct a portrait of a people and their place." -- <i><i>National Geographic Traveler</i>, July/August 2006</i><br /><br />"Transcends cultural stereotypes deeply-embedded in the perceptions of the Eastern harem; probes the limitlessness of female venture and portable homelands." -- <i>Elif Shafak, professor of Middle Eastern studies, University of Arizona, and award-winning Turkish author of <i>The Bastard of Istanbul</i></i><br /><br />"Transcends cultural stereotypes deeply-embedded in the perceptions of the Eastern harem; probes the limitlessness of female venture and portable homelands." -- <i>Elif Shafak, professor of Middle Eastern studies, University of Arizona, and award-winning Turkish author of <i>The Saint of Incipient Insanities</i></i><br /><br />"[A] wonderful book; beautifully written, thought-provoking and inspiring. Every essay is spot on, literary and insightful....Be ready to book a flight to Istanbul afterwards." -- <i><i>Daily Telegraph</i> (UK), January 31,2007</i><br /><br />"[T]he stories...entertain and inform. Read about navigating male-female relationships and one woman's really close shave in a Turkish hamam." -- <i><i>International Herald Tribune</i>, December 13, 2006 </i>
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  A WOMAN WITH A PAST
  
  “Have you found your compatriots welcoming even though your relatives have
  returned to France?”
  
  Her mouth twisted. “The grand émigrés in Soho will have nothing to do with a
  woman who was a whore in Turkey.”
  
  He winced. “Surely no one said such an appalling thing!”
  
  “The aristocratic ladies did. Their husbands tried to corner me in empty
  rooms,” she said tartly. “I decided I would be safer among my more humble
  countrymen here in St. Pancras.”
  
  He bit off a curse. “You deserve so much better than this, Suzanne!”
  
  She sighed. “If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that no one ‘deserves’
  anything more than the right to struggle for survival. I’d rather be here
  altering gowns in a cold room than living in luxury in a Turkish harem and
  wondering which night might be my last, so I think I am doing well.” She
  raised her teacup in a mock toast. “Will you drink to my survival, Simon?”
  
  “I can do more than that,” he said, his gaze intense. “Marry me