The New York Times Praises New Novel, MORE, from Skyhorse Publishing: First Novel to Capture Refugee Crisis in "visceral, emotional detail"
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- By United Nations' estimates, over 65 million people have been displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution. Statistics tell only part of the story: Now a new novel, by Hakan Günday, one of Turkey's leading young writers, brings to brutal and terrifying life the realities of refugees living in constant peril.
The novel comes from literary powerhouse, Arcade, a division of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
In her October 18 review of the novel in The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani writes: "The importance of this novel… lies in its horrific portrayals of refugees fleeing desperate situations, sometimes leaving home with a lifetime's possessions in a single plastic bag, only to find themselves in another inferno, preyed upon by unscrupulous smugglers and thugs."
The novel centers on a nine-year-old boy, Gaza, who lives on the shores of the Aegean Sea and works in the family business—human trafficking. Together with his father and local boat owners, Gaza helps smuggle desperate "illegals" attempting to cross into nearby Greece. But how will he cope when the tables are turned—when it's not the migrants in his care who struggle to survive but Gaza himself?
As Kakutani writes, Gaza descends into the subhuman: "It's when Mr. Gunday pulls back a bit and shows how a bright child could evolve into such a nihilistic beast that the novel becomes a more complex, Dostoyevsky-like inquiry into man's capacity for evil."
More is one of the first novels to document the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East, written by one of the freshest young voices on the Turkish literary scene. "Move over Orhan Pamuk," writes Kirkus of the book. "There's an exciting new Turkish novelist in town…This is a disturbing, politically charged portrait of the refugee crisis. A Tin Drum for a new generation"; and Ursula Hegi, The New York Times bestselling author of Stones From The River, calls it "unflinching and momentous."
Günday was born in 1976 on the island of Rhodes in Greece. He currently lives in Istanbul. He is the bestselling author of eight novels. More received Le Prix Médicis Étranger in 2015 and the award for Best Turkish Novel of 2011.
SKYHORSE PUBLISHING
Skyhorse Publishing, one of the fastest-growing independent book publishers in the United States, was launched in September 2006 by Tony Lyons, former president and publisher of the Lyons Press. It has had forty-two titles on the New York Times bestseller list over the course of its ten-year history.
With a backlist of over 6,000 titles, Skyhorse publishes a maverick list that includes fiction, nonfiction, history, politics, rural living, cooking, humor, and children's books. A Skyhorse imprint since 2010, Arcade has published literary giants such as Samuel Beckett, E. M. Cioran, and Leo Tolstoy, alongside new voices such as Andreï Makine and Ismail Kadare. In 2012, Chinese novelist Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Arcade was founded by Richard and Jeannette Seaver in 1988.
Lyons is dedicated to publishing books that make people's lives better, whether that means teaching them a hobby, bringing them a unique and important story, or encouraging them to fight against injustices, conspiracies, or abuses of power.
CONTACT: Charlie Lyons
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SOURCE Skyhorse Publishing
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