Ostpartum depression affects millions of new mothers every year, and -like most of its victims- Elif Shafak never expected to be one of them. But after the birth of her first child in 2006, the internationally bestselling Turkish author remembers how, "for the first time my adult life... words wouldn't speak to me" (p. 5).
As her despair finally eased, Shafak sought to resuscitate her writing life by chronicling her own experiences. As a Sufi, Shafak believes that "to be human... means to live with an orchestra of conflicting voices and mixed emotions" (p. xii). Within herself, she had always acknowledged that there was not one identity, but a cacophony of voices that squabbled for ascendance. They were her "harem within" (p. 46), and Shafak recognized each of her internal voices: Little Miss Practical, Dame Dervish, Milady Ambitious Chekhovian, and Miss High-Browed Cynic.
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Penguin Random House UK
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