Three Daughters Of Eve

Azur’s dinner guests assemble around the dining table for their meal, and Peri realizes that the assortment of professors and students are all people without anywhere to go during the holiday. The conversation turns to politics, and Peri is asked about her opinion on Turkey joining the EU. Peri expresses her hope that it would someday, not seeing religion as a barrier. She believes, unlike Iran, Turkey longs to forget rather than hold on.

Peri uses the washroom, and when she steps into the hallway after, she spots a portrait of a woman naked except for a scarf around her waist. The baby in the mist reappears, trying to indicate sadness surrounding the woman in the picture, and Peri tells it to go away. Azur arrives, finding her talking aloud. To her questions, he explains that the woman was his wife; she passed away four years ago. Peri tells Azur about the baby in the mist, and amazed, Azur invites her to his room to talk more about it, asserting that she is “special.”

After dinner, the blonde woman gives Peri and Darren a lift home. Darren asks to come up to Peri’s room, and she agrees. She sleeps with him but is thinking entirely of Azur. Peri remembers the saying that “what one did in the first hours of the New Year would determine what one did the rest of the year” (290), and she hopes 2002 won’t be the year of guilt.

Peri takes Shirin up on her invitation and goes to London to meet her before the term begins. Peri remembers the constant fighting that would erupt in her house during Eid-al-Adha when traditionally a lamb is sacrificed; Mensur was against this practice.

One Eid, the neighbors pooled their money and bought a bull, but the animal, sensing its fate, went crazed with fear. It ran away and put up a fight, taking many hours, men, and a tranquilizer to put it down. Mensur refused to eat the meat after this “barbarism,” and for the first time, Selma agreed, too. Later that day, Mensur commented to Peri about how this day was almost as tiring as the day “you kids” were born. A confused Peri learned that she had a twin brother who didn’t survive. Mensur had assumed she remembered the boy, but Peri only discovered the complete truth years later.

Shirin arrives at Paddington station to greet Peri, wearing a fur coat. Shirin claims it is not real, but Peri knows it is a lie. She is further disturbed when Shirin admits it is the first lie Peri has seen through.

Peri’s infatuation with Azur grows, especially as they begin to meet in his rooms to discuss the baby in the mist. She also ignores Darren’s messages and calls after the night they spent together.

Peri goes out for a run one evening and stops by a phone box to call her father. They discuss how Hakan and Feride are expecting a baby, and Peri claims she could never marry someone like her brother. She asks Mensur if he would reject her if she shamed him, and he claims he would never do so, regardless of what she did. Divining that she may have feelings for someone, Mensur asks who the “lucky boy” is. Peri lies that it is just a student and nothing serious. She returns home to find a note from Shirin claiming she found the perfect house for them.

At the party, the PR woman informs the group that she just saw news of a bomb explosion in Istanbul on her Twitter feed. The dinner party rushes to the television. The reporting says a group of men were creating a bomb in their apartment when it exploded; the neighbor upstairs, a school teacher, lost his life along with the men.

At Oxford, Shirin and Peri pack up and head to their new home. On the way there, Shirin tells Peri that Mona will also live with them. Peri is surprised at this, as Shirin and Mona don’t get along, but Shirin asserts that she needs the “challenge” and offers no other explanation.

At dinner, Shirin professes a toast with wine and apple juice to their friendship: “Three young Muslim women in Oxford! The Sinner, the Believer and the Confused” (308). Almost immediately, Shirin and Mona get into an argument about religion. Shirin rails about the growing fanaticism of the Muslims, while Mona points out that all other religions are equally culpable. Mona expresses her anger at having to constantly defend herself as a Muslim woman who has done nothing wrong. Shirin, in turn, highlights how the true outcasts in their religion are “[a]theists. Yazidis. Gays. Drag queens. Environmentalists. Conscientious objectors” (310). Shirin and Mona fight about the latter’s headscarf as well. Mona defends her personal choice to wear one, while Shirin claims it is the reason her family was sent into exile.

Both girls turn to Peri to take a side, but Peri always offers an abstract position of support for the weaker party in different contexts. The argument temporarily defuses but picks up again when Shirin criticizes the Prophet and Islam. Mona, asserting that Shirin despises her culture and thinks of Mona as oppressed and ignorant, storms out. As Peri heads to her room, she hears a frustrated Shirin murmur about someone warning her it wouldn’t be easy.

The remark sticks with Peri, and she divines that Azur has manipulated the three of them into moving in together. She heads to Shirin’s room and finds copies of Azur’s books there, all carrying tender personal inscriptions and urging her to love her “stepsister.” Peri realizes the metaphor applies to both Mona and her and that she, too, is part of the experiment.

As the dinner party discusses the news, a journalist among them suggests that the Middle East has its chakras blocked. A plastic surgeon prepares to leave; he has to catch a flight back to Sweden, where he lives. As the conversation turns to emigration and the difference between those who leave Turkey and those who stay behind, Peri notices that Adnan’s phone is ringing; Shirin is calling her back.

At Oxford, the three girls settle into the house, finding their rhythm. However, there are regular and recurrent arguments that take place between Shirin and Mona, usually around the kitchen table, on subjects including religion, faith, identity, and sex. Peri thinks often about Azur, trying to understand why he urged Shirin to bring the three of them together. She grows increasingly resentful.

Peri runs into Troy again on campus. He remarks on Shirin and Azur having an affair and brings up how he has seen Peri visit his rooms, too. Peri is stunned to hear about Shirin; Peri’s visits to Azur revolve solely around conversations about the baby in the mist; once he is satisfied, he immediately stops the invitations.

Overcome with a migraine, Peri heads home, remembering what she eventually learned about her brother. Peri was one of the twins; her brother was named Poyraz. When they were four years old, Poyraz choked to death on a plum that Peri abandoned while she witnessed the entire scene, frozen. Selma, who eventually discovered the pair, yelled at Peri at the funeral and called her an “evil child” for not calling for help. Peri knows Selma has blamed Poyraz’s death all her life, and the guilt, shame, and self-hatred have manifested all her life “through the attendant ghost of her twin brother” (325).

At the house, Peri confronts Shirin about their friendship being one of Azur’s social experiments. Shirin defends Azur, calling herself his “devoted disciple.” Peri asks Shirin if she is having an affair with Azur, and Shirin refuses to answer, calling Peri “paranoid” and “jealous;” she warns Peri to stay out of her business.

That night, Peri is overcome with not only loathing for Azur but also herself. She feels exhausted and confused, unable to emulate either Shirin’s confidence or Mona’s resilience. The baby in the mist reappears; Peri decides she finally understands what it is trying to tell her and agrees to act on its urging.

At the dinner party, Peri steps out onto the terrace to call Shirin back and overhears the businessman and one of the other guests, a bank CEO, discussing some dubious business. She moves into the passageway between the kitchen and the drawing room to speak to Shirin instead.

Shirin picks up on the first ring. She is surprised to have heard from Peri and still can’t believe what Peri did to herself and Azur back in Oxford. Peri describes how the photograph fell out of her wallet earlier that evening, bringing back memories. She tells Shirin about her current life as well, while Shirin asks about Peri’s twin sons, having heard about them from Mona. Shirin reveals she is pregnant and, to Peri’s question, insinuates she will name her son after Azur.

Peri asks after Azur, and Shirin gives Peri his number, encouraging her to call him. As they express how much they miss each other, there is a commotion, and Peri sees two masked, armed men burst into the house and hold the guests at gunpoint. She hangs up the phone immediately.

At Oxford, the president of the university, Leo, calls Azur to his room to discuss the complaints that have been lodged against Azur. Students have complained numerous times about his teaching techniques and his offensive and ostentatious manner, but there is a new issue of Azur having affairs with his students. When Azur points out that Shirin is not his student, Leo states that it is Peri who has been named. Troy claimed Azur had an affair with Peri and then abandoned her, following which she attempted death by suicide. The matter will be passed on to the Ethics Committee, even as a shocked Azur asserts that nothing happened between him and Peri. He decides to wait for Peri to tell the truth.

Peri comes to consciousness in the hospital. She thinks of her father’s pride and expectation of her success and is reduced to tears when she contemplates her current situation. Peri meets with a psychiatrist the next day, who begins to chart out a plan for her recovery. He also mentions that, when she is feeling up to it, the university has some questions for her about Azur. Peri is astounded to hear that the university believes Azur is the one who triggered her attempt to die by suicide.

On the day of the hearing, Peri sits alone in the garden and vacillates between testifying on Azur’s behalf or against him. She knows Azur cannot be held responsible for her attempt to die by suicide, and she is grateful for everything he has taught her; she is also still infatuated with him. However, she equally loathes his air of superiority and seeming disregard for the feelings of his students in how he exerts power over them. Peri is also equally hurt by Azur’s closeness to Shirin and his aloofness from Peri, save for the brief interest he showed in her when he learned about the baby in the mist.

In his room, Azur contemplates the outcome of the committee meeting. He knows both Shirin and Troy will be called to testify; he knows Peri will, too, though he is sure she will testify for the truth. Azur believes the case against him is weak: He did use his classroom as a social laboratory, but it was all for a good reason, and ultimately, he hadn’t done anything he considered wrong. His one mistake had been to spend too much time with Peri, even though he could see she was developing feelings for him.

Azur remembers his mentor during his time as a student at Harvard: Professor Naseem, a specialist in Middle Eastern Studies. Along with expanding Azur’s perspectives and world views, Naseem also introduced Azur to his younger daughter, Anissa, whom Azur quickly fell in love with and got married to. However, Azur and Anissa soon discovered how incompatible they were, partly fueled by Anissa’s mental health condition and volatility. Azur ended up finding solace and companionship in Anissa’s older half-sister, Nour, but their affair was soon found out, and the family was furious with Azur. Azur and Anissa moved to Oxford for a fresh start, but when Anissa was four months pregnant, she took a walk down the river and never returned; her body was found days later, and her death was declared “unexplained.” Anissa’s father blamed Azur’s affair and never forgave him, and Azur himself became obsessed with the “unexplained,” leading him to eventually teach “God.”

Peri approaches the building where the committee hearing is taking place, still torn. Ultimately, she stops and decides that she is a mere spectator; she will not testify. She turns and walks away and does not realize until years later that “her passivity actively contributed to the ruination of the man she loved” (349).

As the masked and armed men round up the guests and staff at the party, Peri manages to slip unseen into a wardrobe in the passageway. Hidden inside, she calls the police from Adnan’s phone and reports the situation; they tell her they will dispatch a team. Realizing she has about 15 minutes of battery life left, Peri decides to call Azur.

After Peri refused to testify at the committee meeting, Azur was disgraced. Articles were written about his megalomaniacal tendencies, with connections drawn between Peri’s attempt to die by suicide and Anissa’s disappearance. This pushed Azur into a deep depression, but he stayed on in Oxford. Without teaching or administrative responsibilities, he wrote and published several successful books. This earned him a great deal of fame and recognition.

After the scandal, Shirin flourished in academia herself, going to Princeton before returning to Oxford in a teaching position. She and Azur remained in touch throughout and are now friends, neither having rekindled the affair. Now, a pregnant Shirin urges Azur to attend a talk being held at the college by a man who is racist, anti-gay, and anti-Islam on saving Europe for the Europeans. Azur attends the talk, scoffing when the man claims that Europe has abandoned God and that God speaks through him today. The man hears and recognizes Azur, commenting briefly on Azur’s retreat from the light before claiming they shall debate one day.

Azur returns home after the talk, and as he prepares dinner, he receives a call from an unknown international number. He picks up to find Peri on the other end.

Hidden inside the wardrobe, Peri tearfully apologizes to Azur for not having spoken to the committee. As he reassures her, Peri hears a gunshot in the background; however, she doesn’t offer him an explanation of where she is.

Azur claims that he always believed Peri held the three passions of Bertrand Russell: “the longing for love, the search for knowledge and the unbearable compassion for the suffering of mankind” (362). This made him angry at Peri, as she reminded him of Nour, and he was anxious he would hurt her like he did Nour. The only woman he could never hurt was Shirin, and Peri deduces that Azur wanted love without this guilt.

As the phone battery begins to run low, Peri describes how she was always in limbo, vacillating between faith and doubt. It made her who she is but also immobilized her at times. She admired Azur for not scoffing at her experiences with the baby in the mist. However, Peri notes that she admired Azur too much, turning him into a God herself, which was a dangerous thing. Thus, when he didn’t reciprocate her love, it spawned anger, hurt, and resentment.

Until the battery lasts, Peri gives Azur a seminar this time, speaking on forgiveness, love, and knowledge. She speaks until the phone gives one last beep, and she hears sirens approaching the seaside mansion. As the phone completely dies out, Peri finally steps out of the wardrobe, aware that she is stepping into either “a new beginning or an end too soon” (365).