Summer Heat

Set alternately between 2003 and 1974, during the Turkish army's invasion of Cyprus, Defne Suman’s third novel to be translated into English tells of one woman’s place in her country’s devastating history.

'Vivid, evocative and tender.' Elif Shafak

‘In our family, secrets were buried deep like treasure, never to be spoken of...’

1974. Melike should be happy: school is shut and her parents have stopped hosting parties for their rowdy political friends. But she’s scared. She can tell from her parents’ urgent whispers about prison, invasion and military coups that Istanbul is changing. So when the family relocate to a quaint village in the south, Melike is hopeful life might get better. And for a while, it does. But then her beloved father disappears...

2003. Nearly three decades have passed, and Melike has done her best to move on. But despite her successful career as an art historian and a husband who adores her, she has always felt a lingering discontent. When she meets mysterious – and extremely handsome – stranger Petro, Melike feels her fortunes changing. But Petro isn’t who he says he is. And when Melike uncovers his true identity, she also lays bare a lifetime of hidden pasts...

With a backdrop of the Turkish army’s occupation of Cyprus in 1974, Summer Heat explores family secrets, tangled identities and one woman’s place in her country’s devastating history.