Portrait of a Turkish Family

Victor Gollancz London, Macmillan New York 1950

Eland 1988, rev edition 2011

Afterword Ateş Orga

'This memoir captures the founding years of the Turkish republic and the pain of those who lived through it, as Orga describes his wealthy Ottoman family’s descent into poverty and humiliation. It is intimately and beautifully written, though make sure to read the epilogue for the twist about who the author really was …'

~ Sami Kent, 'Five of the best books about Turkey' No 1, The Guardian, 27 June 2024 ~

'Probably the most famous Turkish literary figure of the 20th century' 

~ Virginia Maxwell, Lonely Planet İstanbul, 2015 ~

'Portrait is mightier than just another book'

~ Yolande Gregor-Smith, July 2015 ~

'An enchanting voice that gently takes us on a journey into the past and tells us a great deal about late Ottoman culture, family life, and gender relations at a time of incredible political turbulence, social change and war' 

~ Elif Shafak, The Daily Telegraph, 10 July 2013 ~

'İrfan Orga’s work reminds me in its combination of scale and particularity of Tolstoy, 

and in the acuteness of his eye of Laurie Lee' 

 ~ Marilyn Bowering, 2010 ~

‘A poignant memory of lost love ... sad and magnificent ... one of the great memoirs of the 20th century’

~ Caroline Moorhead, ‘Book of a Lifetime’, The Independent, 11 February 2005 ~