A Recipe for Daphne
Türkiye

A Recipe for Daphne

by Nektaria Anastasiadou

Identity & Belonging Literary Fiction Romance 2021

Summary

In contemporary Istanbul, Fanis Paleologos is a charming widower and a respected member of the city’s dwindling Rum community, Greek Orthodox Christians whose families have lived in Istanbul for centuries. His quiet routines are disrupted when Daphne, an American-born woman of Greek and Ottoman heritage, arrives in search of her roots. Her presence awakens old memories of the woman Fanis once loved and lost during the devastating 1955 Istanbul pogrom. Meanwhile, Kosmas, a talented pastry chef hoping to find a suitable wife within his community, also falls for Daphne and attempts to win her heart through his culinary skills. As romantic rivalries unfold amid afternoon tea, traditional pastries, and lively neighbourhood gatherings, long-buried family secrets threaten to complicate their hopes for happiness. Blending humour, romance, and history, Nektaria Anastasiadou’s novel explores cultural identity, the meaning of home, and the resilience of a community determined to preserve its traditions despite decades of discrimination and upheaval.

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About the author
Nektaria Anastasiadou
Nektaria Anastasiadou

Nektaria Anastasiadou is a Greek writer who lives in Istanbul and explores the history, language, and cultural identity of the city’s Greek Orthodox community. Her writing reflects her interest in the lives of minority communities and the ways history shapes belonging across generations. In 2019, Anastasiadou won the Zografeios Agon, a prestigious Greek-language literary award established in Constantinople in the nineteenth century. Her debut novel, A Recipe for Daphne, was published in 2021 by the American University in Cairo Press. The novel was shortlisted for the 2022 Runciman Award, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, and received an honourable mention in the Eric Hoffer Book Award. It was also featured on Elif Shafak’s reading list of books about Istanbul in The New York Times. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals including The Markaz Review and the Greek magazine Hartis. In 2023, she participated in the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, representing Greece and Turkey. Her second novel, At the Feet of Eternal Spring, was published in Greece in 2023. Through her fiction, Anastasiadou brings attention to the rich cultural heritage of Istanbul’s Greek community, exploring memory, migration, love, and the ongoing search for belonging.

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Details
Published
2021
Author
Nektaria Anastasiadou