The story of a woman and a city that was lost forever in the fire.
Smyrna, 1905. In the "Pearl of the East," the city of unparalleled beauty and harmony, Avinas Pilai arrives. He is Indian, but that doesn't stop him from falling in love with Edit, the daughter of a wealthy Levantine family. The two young people will never marry, and Edit will leave for France shortly before Smyrna is engulfed in flames, revealing a secret to her beloved that will haunt her.
Seventeen years later, a young girl, a Greek Christian, witnesses the massacre of her family as Kemalist troops enter Smyrna. A Turkish officer saves her, but the girl will never speak again.
Smyrna, 2005. The hundred-year-old Sehrizat decides to record her story. And as the pages fill with memories of a life, old secrets will come to light.
A novel about a city and its people, who went from dream and happiness to loss and utter destruction. A story that reads like a fairy tale.