Book Review: Last Train to Istanbul

Set in wartime Turkey and France, the novel revolves around the lives of a Turkish family. The younger woman in the family has married a Turkish Jew. The family refuses to accept their marriage and the couple leaves for France. The elder daughter is married to a Turkish government official. Already strife with the consequences of a daughter marrying outside their religion, troubles increases when the younger daughter’s family tries to escape from the hands of German soldiers looking for Jews in France. The family through contacts of the elder daughter, and the Turkish consulate manages to find places on a train leaving for Istanbul and returns to safety along with other Turkish and non-Turkish Jews.
While the story is fictional, there are elements of truth in it, particularly in the powerful role played by Turkish diplomats in saving Turkish citizens of all religions. Humanity takes over when several Jews of other nationalities are also helped in the process. The book is a reminder of the terrible consequences of war, discrimination, and ‘othering’. The torture meted out in concentration camps and the sense of insecurity and humiliation that Jews lived with during the period has also been mentioned. While this is not as stark as in some of the other books that  I have read, the book is a reminder of how war can affect the middle and upper middle class civilians who often tend to forget the meaning of strife.
A good translation. A gripping read.