Eskibahçe, Anatolia

The majority of the novel takes place in Eskibahçe, which is a small fictional town located in the real region of Anatolia. The novel begins in the early 1900s, as readers watch the changes the town undergoes through to the 1920s. In the beginning, Anatolia is a part of the Ottoman Empire, and the townspeople refer to themselves as Ottomans. Eskibahçe shelters a blend of cultures and religions, as it appears to be neither wholly Greek nor wholly Turkish. As most of the novel’s main characters live in Eskibahçe, de Bernières demonstrates how World War I slowly makes its way to the small town, and drastically changes the lives of everyone who lives there. By the end of war, Anatolia and thus Eskibahçe become a part of modern day Turkey. When the Christian inhabitants are forcefully removed to Greece, Eskibah...