Son of a Dog

This is a love story. It’s set in June, in July, in August, in Adana, three thousand kilometres away from Berlin. Berlin is where Zeko lives. In Berlin, he meets men in parks and cafés, on Grindr, and outside the mosque. But every time their lips meet, his mind takes him straight back to Hassan, the boy next door in Adana, who Dede, his grandfather, always called a »son of a dog«. Zeko only knows that noisy neighbourhood and the dust in the alleyways from his summer holidays. Then Dede dies of a heart attack. But Zeko doesn’t want to forget. Not his grandfather, who cut the worries out of old men’s beards and sang in Arabic, not the religious rituals and the taste of bamya. And certainly not Hassan.

»In nine days, I will see Hassan again«, he repeats like a mantra: at Friday prayers, at therapy, at the pool, at lunch with his best friend Pari. But something happened the last time Zeko and Hassan saw each other. Something that keeps surging to the surface with a force that grows stronger with each passing day, as he approaches the date of his return to Adana. Son of a Dog tells a story of love and desire in a radical, poetic way. A story about the euphoria and vulnerability of loving someone, about the fear and the joy. About quiet cries and loud whispers: at the kitchen table, in stranger’s beds, at prayer time. And in the process, it surveys our fractured present, transcending all the borders between countries, languages, and bodies.

»In this work, vulnerability and longing are transformed into great literature. And everything is redolent of oranges and salt.« Dinçer Güçyeter, winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize

»This is the most tender and clever novel about love, friendship, and desire for a long time – you wish the story would never end.« Martina Hefter, winner of the German Book Prize

»This novel will break your heart – and yet, it makes you want to love like Zeko does, just once in your life.« Mithu Sanyal