The Greedy Heart of Halide Edib

In novels, memoirs, and essays, the Turkish writer Halide Edib chronicled the most cataclysmic change in the history of her country: its creation after World War I from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. She not only wrote about it, she was one of the creators. And in that process, she helped secure a prominent place in public life for Turkish women. But in 1919, her country was about to become a colony. British and Greek invaders patrolled key cities, and wanted more. In occupied Istanbul, Halide Edib put down her pen, sent her two young sons away to safety abroad, and headed to the hills to join a small rebel band fighting for freedom. For Halide Edib, the choice was clear: she had to go. But she also kept a record of events -- memoirs -- for the youth on both sides fighting and dying around her, and for her own sons, far away.