Ventura, a beautiful young Turkish woman, travels to Mexico because her family has arranged her marriage to a fellow Sephardic immigrant. With a trunk full of hopes and traditions, she bravely faces the unknown, as she embarks on a surprising journey to start a new life, far from her homeland. The arrival, the nostalgia, the heart-wrenching uprooting and the adoption of a new homeland will mark her adventure as a migrant, until the long-awaited return to Turkey. Ventura will live each event with intensity and will season her days with the aromas, flavors, rhythms, colors and proverbs from the Middle East. Amid recipes and customs inherited from her ancient culture, she will find the best antidote to homesickness, even if her memory cannot forget the Moons of Istanbul.

Translated into English by Cecilia Della Croce

SOPHIE BEJARANO GOLDBERG

Born in Mexico City, she is a descendant of Turkish immi- grants on her mother's side and Bulgarian settlers on her father's side. Her first novel, Lunas de Estambul, earned a well-deserved place among the top 10 best-selling books in Mexico in 2017, and is now in its thirteenth edition in Spanish. It has also been published as an audiobook and pocketbook, and it has been translated into Serbian and Turkish. This is the first edition in English of Moons of Istanbul, Sophie's family saga based on the true story of her grandmother Ventura.