Last Train to Istanbul is a war-fiction by Ayşe Kulin, first written in Turkish, but the book gained immense popularity, thus it got translated into many languages. The English translation is as good as Turkish, thanks to the brilliance of John W. Baker. The novel is more about political turmoil gripping Turkey during the period of WW-II than battlefields and all that war-related misery. As the power of Hitler begins rising in Europe, the pressure on Turkey increases because of its strategic location. On one side, British wants to have Turkey to their side without giving any substantial military aid, while on the other side Hitler pushes Turkey towards his party. Turkey’s plight and fight lies in being neutral. Among all this political chaos and crises, in the novel lies a story of one family that unwittingly gets divided and later they all struggle to become one once again. First off, they are torn away by religious differences and then by Hitler’s policies. The rift i...
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