In Summer Heat we follow Melike, an art historian who is asked by a a filmmaker Petro for a tour of the Byzantine churches and structures. As it turns out, Petro was actually sent by her presumed dead father Orhan, seeking to reconcile the family by revealing the truth about the past. The story alternates between The 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus which resulting in the division of Cyprus, the displacement of populations and loss of life and 2003.
A really worthwhile read

In 1974, Safinaz Kutsi jumped from a cliff in Cyprus, and her son, Orhan, left his home in Turkey to deal with the aftermath. Then Turkey invaded Cyprus and Orhan did not return home. Melike, 10, her granddaughter and his daughter, is devastated by the suicide and then her father’s apparent rejection of his family her mother and her brother and especially her. Over thirty years later, Melike is an Art Historian, spending the summer on Buyukada (a big island off the coast of Istanbul with her husband, when she gets a request from a documentary film producer, Petro, to meet him in Istanbul and provide information about various Byzantine churches and other structures. She is surprised by the approach but agrees. The area he has chosen is where Safinaz used to live and where Melike had spent so much of her childhood exploring, before Safinaz had left Turkey and Orhan had taken his family off to a more rural location. Wandering around with Petro brings back many memories of happy times with her father, which she had rigidly suppressed due to the rejection and the consequent destruction of her family’s life. In her mind and, she believes, in reality, he is dead. But it becomes clear that Petro has been sent by Orhan, now actually dying, who wants to explain what had really happened and thus reconcile the family.
Thus begins a reconstruction of the last nearly forty years, a family story which is intricately bound up with the history of Turkey and its relationship with Greece. It is a history which is largely ignored by the Anglophone world and necessary aspects are delicately introduced here because the story depends on it. I review crime, mystery and thriller stories so this is well outside my normal area. However, as I said in my review of her previous book (At the Breakfast Table, it has some of the tropes – family secrets, missing people, investigators – of such stories plus, in this case, murders and atrocities. In addition it is superbly written with wonderful descriptions and strongly written, complex characters, especially Mileke, from whose viewpoint the tale unravels in contemporary and flashback scenes. Incidentally, if you are like me and ‘hear’ the story as you read it you might like to know that her name is pronounced May-lee-key. Once again the translation into idiomatic English by Betsy Goeksel is virtually faultless.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

🌅 REVIEW 🌅

Summer Heat by Defne Suman
Publishing Date: 9th May

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

📝 - Melike has it all: a beautiful home in Istanbul, a career as an art historian, an attentive husband. But her yearning for more excitement has led her surreptitiously into the arms of other men. On the cusp of her fortieth birthday, Melike is resolute: the affairs must stop. Then she receives a mysterious email from a man named Petro, requesting a tour of Istanbul’s Byzantine churches. As soon as she sees Petro, with his endearing smile and impeccable charm, Melike knows she is in trouble. But she is not the only one keeping secrets. Petro has a hidden agenda of his own – one which, when uncovered, will not only upend Melike’s future, but alter everything she believed about her past...

💭 - This was a really interesting read, delving deep into life across Turkey and Cyprus in the 1970s/80s. I didn’t know a lot about the division of Cyprus, and the terror that was brought down on the inhabitants, so I was glad to learn about it, and I’m going to look to learn more. However, something about the writing didn’t work for me, and I’m not sure if it has to do with the translation meaning it doesn’t flow so well in English. There were some parts I really liked, but others felt a bit stilted. I did also struggle to connect with the main character, a deeply flawed woman, as a lot of her reactions and inner musings felt overly naive and self-absorbed to me for someone who was reaching her forties.
Not one I’d go out of my way to recommend, but I’m quite glad I finished it despite contemplating a DNF.

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I’m a bit undecided how I feel about this book; some parts were enjoyable reading, whilst in contrast the history of the war seemed on occasion to have got lost. The most notable parts, however, were the enduring love of a father for the daughter he abandoned. Melike’s wayward behaviour demonstrated her need to compensate for this loss, by taking various lovers despite being married to Sinan. I felt that some of the flashbacks and musings were inconsequential and detracted from the main thrust of the story. A story of a family secrets, love and loss unfolds to the conclusion of the death of Melike’s father.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Head of Zeus for this e-APC in exchange for my honest independent review.

This book, like Defne Suman’s previous one, is set mainly in Turkey and deals with the difficult history of Turkish – Greek relationships through the story of a family by unveiling their deepest secrets.

Melike Kutski takes centre stage – we meet her just at the end of her fourth decade, 29 years after her dad had left the family without ever returning or sending word. Ever since then, Melike has felt abandoned and unloved, carrying a lot of hurt and anger inside her. To numb the pain, she finds her own coping mechanisms and succeeds in presenting an image to the world that shows a vibrant, successful and beautiful woman at the top of her game. When she – completely out of the blue – gets word from her dad, who now lives in Cyprus and is terminally ill, her facade begins to crumble. He wants to see her before he dies and although initially reluctant, Melike travels to Cyprus – full of apprehension and misgivings.

Her journey to Cyprus is a journey back into the past, into her own childhood and the events relating to her dad’s story, which is intrinsically linked with Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the intercommunal fighting that started in the 60s after Independence. The more Melike opens up to her dad, the more painful it gets but this pain translates into a healing process that sets her free from the shackles of her past. There is a heavy dose of over-simplified psychology thrown into this, which, in places, renders the story a bit heavy-handed. It is however written with a great deal of compassion that makes this book an emotional and interesting read.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Head of Zeus / Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I particularly enjoyed the setting of this novel, the multiple beautiful locations and the historical context affecting the present timeline.
Suman’s writing is easy-to-read and fitting.
A great read for those who love father and daughter stories, stories with historical shadows and/or how the family secrets and societal circumstances can shape a person’s psyche.
Though, some aspects of inner thoughts of MC (when she comes to some important realisation) and the subplot with Safinaz were at times did not make sense to me.

As someone who adores the summer heat this book in one to sit and feel all the heat of a far away place.
A story of then and now, a look back at what was and what is, surrounded by a history steeped in turmoil, I loved this book.

Summer Heat is a complex, realistic, engaging, and occasionally heartbreaking narrative. It is a summery novel with a wonderful and bitter taste of Turkish and Greek culture and history. The author's storytelling glides through time with outstanding ability in conveying the characters' life stories and struggles. It's been a long time since a book I read captured my thoughts and won me over, like this one. The language was stunning, and it flowed seamlessly. While reading it, there were moments where I was so shocked by what I'd read that I wanted to take a break to process it all, but the story wouldn't let me go, so I kept reading and reading and getting engrossed. All the characters, from our main character, Melike, to Petro, Safinaz, Orhan, Gulbahar, and Eleni, are genuine, realistic, and loyal to the narrative. It was a valuable novel that, through family history, brought together many places, such as Turkey’s Istanbul, its Buyukada, Greece’s capital Athens, at a certain point even Germany, and eventually the island of Cyprus, weaving together entangled lives and family secrets, as well as the unique perspectives of each character and their place in the plot. The author described sorrow, grief, love, abandonment, and reunion wonderfully. Engaging, honest, and heartfelt; very emotional yet still realistic. The author treated this story meticulously, which is beautifully translated into the strong psychological component of the characters and the historically significant importance of the plot. It's a novel with good literary taste and a compelling tale. Once begun, it is impossible to put down! 

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for providing me with an ARC of this beautiful translation!

I found this book very hard to get into. An awful lot of historical detail. Wasn't sure I particularly liked the main characters. Well written and very atmospheric. Just not really for me

Initially, I found this book a bit hard to warm up to but by the end realised I had quite enjoyed it. We begin with Melike, an impulsive and somewhat unlikeable middle aged woman, falling quite quickly in love with a documentary filmmaker, Petro, while giving him a tour of Istanbul. The insta-love to me felt hard-to-believe to begin with but as the story evolves and the truth comes forward about the ways in which these two are connected, we get a compelling picture of Melike’s tumultuous family history and the tragedies that befell Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the 1970s.

The writing is descriptive and easy-to-read and morphs into a puzzle of a story of family, abandonment, and the ties that connect relatives across countries and time. I really appreciated the raw descriptions of complicated familial dynamics and the ending felt apt (if not slightly drawn-out).

I think readers who enjoy high-drama and forbidden love would most enjoy this!

Summer Heat is not a fun read. It´s about people unwillingly entangled in a cruel history vortex. Turkey never liked Christians or any other infidels. The last hundred and fifty years are marked by blood. The Ottoman Empire had a mission of spreading Islam far and wide. When they failed to conquer Europe, they continued their mission closer to home. They slaughtered over a million people, which is known today as the Pontic Genocide. This didn´t end there, the systematic harassment, discrimination and occasional violence keeps continuing today. Do you know why Cyprus is divided in half? How did it happen? I knew something, but not a lot. This book clarified the matter. Just remember that this is a work of fiction, not a historical account.
When history happens, when big guys quarrel between themselves (tsars, kings, sultans etc) it´s the ordinary people who suffer the most. Always. When two very different cultures clash there are no victors, only losers and victims. Defne writes about suffering. Because people in Turkey and their neighbors have been suffering for centuries. This affects generations of people who cannot overcome their trauma.
So we see the turbulent history of one particular family. They are Greek Christians, which means they´re a very unwanted part of society. Three generations of this family have been affected by the history and cultural conflict, but each in a different way. Every person seems to be having a secret, a shadowy episode in the past. Everyone loved and lost. The dynamics between family members are troublesome. Nothing is clear. There is a lot of love but it´s very difficult, broken love. It´s this type of bond, that requires a lot of care and patience to be repaired. But what if someone doesn´t care enough?
The most enjoyable part of this book is the historical aspect of the conflict. The family's story is touching and well-presented. However, Melike, the main character, and the youngest family member is somehow frustrating. Her emotional and irrational behavior and inner thoughts don´t make her very likeable. Maybe Defne has made her character this way on purpose, to show that even though Melike never experienced personally any violence, she is still affected by her family's trauma. This is why she is the way she is.
Let´s look at this story as a warning. The fighters of Islam aren´t friendly. Two years ago 50 people died in a fire of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The firefighters weren´t in a rush to come over and help despite being only two blocks away. Last year we saw another ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, a land taken from Armenia by Azerbaijan. Armenia and Georgia are the only Christian countries in the region and they don´t have any allies around. There are countless examples. Thank goodness we have Defne who tells the world about crimes committed by Turkey. This is a part of history that today's Turkiye desperately tries to erase.

Having enjoyed ‘At the breakfast table’ I was looking forward to this new book by Defne Syman. It did not disappoint. Once again I learnt an awful lot about the history of Cyprus and its relationship with Turkey. The novel was really evocative and I could almost smell the air and taste the fruit and food described. The only let down for me was Melike. I really disliked her and found her very needy and a bit selfish. All in all though an excellent book.

<B>Love, family, war</b>

Suman has a lovely ease and warmth in her writing but this is distinctly more 'women's fiction' (I hate that patronising label! but what's an alternative?) than litfic. It can feel a bit too easy and unnuanced, lacking complexity both in the story that's told and the use of language. That said, the characters are boldly delineated, especially Melike and her father, and Melike's story of her childhood is done with compassion and a nice sense of a young girl's perspective, even if there's a rather simplistic psychology to Melike's behaviour.

The war here is the invasion and, later, division of Cyprus in the 1970s and the central atrocity is one that both characterises modern warfare far too often, and which is central to many books in this genre targeting women readers. I think what I'm saying is that the geography might change but I've read this story, in this style, many times before. This is very much about personal lives lived in the wake of war and aims at the heart.

What I especially like is the evocation of the setting, first Istanbul and then Cyprus. Suman has a deft and sensual way of describing place, and scents are especially strong: rose water, pine, jasmine perfume the pages.

I'm also a sucker for father-daughter stories so ended up abandoning my more critical faculties and had a good emotional wallow, complete with tears!

I'd suggest fans of Kristin Hannah and books like The Kite Runner should check this out.