Breath of the Beloved

Living on his own under a modest roof, Sami makes a living as a mural painter. One day, he learns that his doting grandmother has passed away and left him a small chest full of calligraphy materials. At first, Sami rather dismisses the contents of the chest, so much so that he even considers getting rid of them. But then he meets Selma at the library where he has been commissioned to do a mural, and the introduction marks a turning point for him. Selma, an attractive and dignified woman with the impeccable manners of an old Istanbul family, once took up calligraphy herself. With her guidance and encouragement, Sami embarks on learning the practice of calligraphy. He is helped in his endeavours by Esref Efendi, a gifted but demanding old-generation calligrapher, whose distaste for the present state of calligraphy has deterred him from taking on students for some time. And the master is quick to steer Sami towards love.

Forever Thirty-Three refers to the first original encyclopedia written and completed about the 1500-year journey of Islamic culture and civilization in the Islamic geography. The story follows two fictional characters: Niyaz and Ekmel. Niyaz is a young academic who graduated from the faculty of theology, and Ekmel is a teacher in his sixties at a university. The two characters’ paths cross in the Encyclopedia of Islam by the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation. The remarkable story of one of the most significant cultural movements in Turkiye’s history has been brought to life with a collective memory spanning 33 years...