Beneath the Handkerchief and Other Tales

Memduh Şevket Esendal, one of the founders of the modern Turkish short story, wrote with a rare combination of warmth, precision, and quiet wit. Set amid the sweeping transformation from the late Ottoman Empire to the early Turkish Republic, his stories turn away from grand historical narratives to capture ordinary people adapting to a changing world. Petty bureaucrats, self-important clerks, weary wives, hopeful dreamers, and village eccentrics reveal themselves through everyday encounters...