The Endless Country

This audio edition includes an Epilogue read by the author, Sami Kent.
'Captivating. Kent effortlessly weaves travels that are close to his heart into a bigger story of Turkey's past and present' - Mishal Husain
'A rich, spellbinding book: dense with people, stories, history, colour, lived experience. [Sami Kent] is a beguiling and charming guide through the complexities of Turkey. The book is alive on every page' - Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others The Endless Country takes a journey through Turkey's past - the nation the author's father left decades ago and he returns to as a young man.
It is not about Erdogan or Atatürk, the two towering Presidents who have book-ended that history, and at times have appeared impossible to escape. Instead Sami Kent's book goes deep beyond them, revealing a history as rich, layered and absurd as his family's favourite dessert, künefe: a shredded wheat pastry with a core of melted cheese, a topping of pistachios, and a drowning of syrup.
From tiny weightlifters to the world's biggest prison, from a failed socialist commune to a wildly successful orchid ice cream, the book is a tribute to the sheer bewildering diversity of Turkey's past: its people, their ideas and their struggles.

Sami Kent is a writer and radio producer based between London and Istanbul. He has reported on Turkey for The Guardian, BBC Radio 4, Al Jazeera, The London Review of Books and many publications. He has also made several radio documentaries for the BBC, and is now working for The Guardian's award-winning podcast 'Today in Focus'. The Endless Country is his first book.