At the Breakfast Table
Türkiye

At the Breakfast Table

by Defne Suman

Family & Heritage Literary Fiction Family Saga 2018

Summary

On Büyükada, an island off Istanbul, relatives gather in the summer of 2017 to celebrate the hundredth birthday of Şirin Saka, a celebrated artist whose long life has spanned nearly a century of political and cultural change. What should be a joyful family occasion soon becomes an encounter with the past, as the younger generations begin to question the silences that have shaped their lives.

Şirin’s grandchildren, Nur and Fikret, and her great-granddaughter, Selin, know that something painful lies beneath the family’s carefully maintained image. Hoping to uncover the truth, they invite Burak, a family friend and investigative journalist, to interview Şirin. But the elderly artist has spent decades concealing a history that reaches beyond her personal life into the suppressed memories of the country itself.

Told through four perspectives, At the Breakfast Table explores the inheritance of family secrets, the psychological cost of silence, and the courage required to confront uncomfortable truths. Defne Suman weaves together intimate family drama and Turkey’s complicated history in a novel about memory, identity, and the possibility of breaking free from the past.

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About the author
Defne Suman
Defne Suman

Defne Suman is a Turkish novelist and essayist born in Istanbul and raised on Büyükada, an island near the city. She studied sociology at Boğaziçi University, earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. After leaving academia, she travelled extensively, volunteered in Thailand and Laos, and studied yoga and Eastern philosophy before dedicating herself to writing. Suman’s fiction explores the hidden layers of Turkish and Ottoman history, focusing on family secrets, cultural identity, exile, and the experiences of marginalised communities. Her novels often examine how political upheaval shapes private lives and how memories are passed between generations. Her notable works include The Silence of Scheherazade, At the Breakfast Table, and The Last Apartment in Istanbul. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages. She is currently based in Athens and maintains close ties to Istanbul.

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Details
Published
2018
Author
Defne Suman