Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old Polaroid of three young women and their university professor. A relic from a past - and a love - Peri had tried desperately to forget. The photograph takes Peri back to Oxford, where she was sent at eighteen, abroad for the first time: to her dazzling, rebellious professor and his life-changing course on God, to her home with her two best friends, Shirin and Mona, and their arguments about Islam and femininity and, finally, to the scandal that tore them all apart. Over one desperate night she tries to make sense of a past she has tried to forget – but can we ever escape who we once were?
A terrific bookPoetic, poignant, trenchant. -- Ian Rankin
An intelligent, fierce and beguiling read * Financial Times *
A thoughtful, charming book that offers a connection to other worlds, perspectives and possibilities * Sunday Times *
An intense, discursive and absorbing novel * Observer *
One of the most important writers at work today, Elif Shafak eloquently explores Turkey's tumultuous present and past. Her magnificent latest moves between Istanbul and Oxford in a fascinating exploration of faith and friendship, rich and poor, and the devastating clash of tradition and modernity * Independent *
A brilliant and moving novel. Elif Shafak writes about religion without superficiality or special pleading, retaining a sense of its impossible possibility or its possible impossibility. Three Daughters of Eve is a remarkable accomplishment -- Richard Holloway
Elif Shafak's writing leaps off the page. In Three Daughters of Eve she takes us spine-tinglingly right under the skin of three women, exposing the strains of friendship through love and loss. An utterly engrossing read. -- Frances Osborne, bestselling author of The Bolter
Shafak's topical 10th novel is both an interrogation and a defence of Muslim identity -- Rebecca Rose * Financial Times *
Luscious, heartbreaking, completely absorbing. It is a full-blown saga of emotion and character, straddling countries, cultures and languages, exploring its women's ambitions and desires; and at the same time a steady-eyed examination of the nameless rules - of femininity, duty, belief and behaviour - that keep us in line and under control. This is an absolutely consuming novel about women who know what they want, and a warning about the price we pay, written with the fluency and depth of an author at the very top of her game. -- Bidisha
Exuberant, epic and comic, fantastical and realistic . . . like all good stories it conveys deeper meanings about human experience -- Financial Times on 'The Architect's Apprentice'
A powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate -- Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, on 'Honour'
A brave and passionate novel -- Paul Theroux on 'Bastard of Istanbul'
Vivid storytelling... that explores the darkest aspects of faith and love -- Sunday Telegraph on 'Honour'
Moving, subtle and ultimately hopeful, Honour is further proof that Shafak is the most exciting Turkish novelist to reach western readers in years * Irish Times on 'Honour' *
An intelligent, fierce and beguiling read * Financial Times *
A thoughtful, charming book that offers a connection to other worlds, perspectives and possibilities * Sunday Times *
An intense, discursive and absorbing novel * Observer *
One of the most important writers at work today, Elif Shafak eloquently explores Turkey's tumultuous present and past. Her magnificent latest moves between Istanbul and Oxford in a fascinating exploration of faith and friendship, rich and poor, and the devastating clash of tradition and modernity * Independent *
A brilliant and moving novel. Elif Shafak writes about religion without superficiality or special pleading, retaining a sense of its impossible possibility or its possible impossibility. Three Daughters of Eve is a remarkable accomplishment -- Richard Holloway
Elif Shafak's writing leaps off the page. In Three Daughters of Eve she takes us spine-tinglingly right under the skin of three women, exposing the strains of friendship through love and loss. An utterly engrossing read. -- Frances Osborne, bestselling author of The Bolter
Shafak's topical 10th novel is both an interrogation and a defence of Muslim identity -- Rebecca Rose * Financial Times *
Luscious, heartbreaking, completely absorbing. It is a full-blown saga of emotion and character, straddling countries, cultures and languages, exploring its women's ambitions and desires; and at the same time a steady-eyed examination of the nameless rules - of femininity, duty, belief and behaviour - that keep us in line and under control. This is an absolutely consuming novel about women who know what they want, and a warning about the price we pay, written with the fluency and depth of an author at the very top of her game. -- Bidisha
Exuberant, epic and comic, fantastical and realistic . . . like all good stories it conveys deeper meanings about human experience -- Financial Times on 'The Architect's Apprentice'
A powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate -- Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, on 'Honour'
A brave and passionate novel -- Paul Theroux on 'Bastard of Istanbul'
Vivid storytelling... that explores the darkest aspects of faith and love -- Sunday Telegraph on 'Honour'
Moving, subtle and ultimately hopeful, Honour is further proof that Shafak is the most exciting Turkish novelist to reach western readers in years * Irish Times on 'Honour' *
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-seven languages. The author of twenty books, fourteen of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak's previous novel, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, was the UK’s bestselling literary hardback novel of 2025, selling over 500,000 copies. Her work has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, amongst others, and she is currently nominated for ‘Author of the Year’ at the British Book Awards. Elif Shafak was appointed President of the Royal Society of Literature in 2025. Her books have sold several million copies worldwide.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780241978887 |
| ISBN 10 | 0241978882 |
| Title | Three Daughters of Eve |
| Author | Elif Shafak |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2017-09-07 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |