Walking

Synopsis

Walking observes the braided lives of Elâ and Memet, two young people growing up in 1970s Yenişehir. Elâ is swept up in the discomfort and excitement of becoming a woman. She plays dress up, trades secrets, and has her first kiss in a monastery garden. Later, at university, she reads Hegel, Marx, and Heidegger, reassuring herself that there is still time to become a fully rounded person. Memet wanders the labyrinthine streets of Tarlabaşı, dreaming of dance halls, his guitar, and the sea.

As Elâ and Memet’s stories converge, a vivid vision of Turkey emerges through children selling green plums, mothers coming and going, and an old Greek man carrying passengers onto a ferry where folksongs rumble. Walking explores questions of love, fury, freedom, and agency, tracing how the conflicts and injustices of the outside world flow into the inner worlds of memory, rebellion, desire, and hope.

About the Author

Sevgi Soysal (1936–1976) was a Turkish writer whose work was shaped by her childhood in Ankara, student movements, revolutionary politics, and experiences of imprisonment and exile. She wrote novels, short stories, and memoirs, and won the Orhan Kemal Award for Best Novel in 1974. She died at the age of forty.

Maureen Freely is a British writer, translator, and academic. She has translated numerous works from Turkish, including five novels by Orhan Pamuk, and has long been active in campaigns for freedom of expression.

Publisher

Archipelago Books

Publication Date

October 27, 2026

Format

Paperback

Pages

208

Subjects

Literary Fiction · Coming-of-Age Fiction · World Literature · Turkish Fiction

ISBN

9781962770712