Ahmet Ümit sells 300,000 in one week

ISTANBUL

The first edition of a new novel by Turkish novelist Ahmet Ümit, titled “Elveda Güzel Vatanım” (Farewell my Beautiful Motherland), sold out within the first week after its release on Dec. 5, causing the book’s publisher, Everest, to print 50,000 more copies. 

Ümit took to Twitter to show her appreciation, tweeting, “I thank everyone, my readers and those who contributed. ‘Farewell My Motherland’ reached 300,000 copies in one week.” 

Featuring the 20-year-history of the Committee of Union and Progress, the novel tells the process of its establishment in 1889, transformation into a big power in 1906 and end with the İzmir assassination in 1926. 

Born in 1960, Ümit was an active member of the Turkish Communist Party from 1974 until 1989, and took part in the underground movement for democracy while Turkey was under the rule of a military dictatorship between1980-1990. He illegally attended the Academy for Social Sciences in Moscow in the 1980s. One of Turkey’s best known contemporary authors, he is especially well-known for his mastery of the mystery genre, as reflected in many of his bestselling novels and short story volumes. 

Drawing upon a unique political and historical background, Ümit delves into the psyches of his well-wrought characters as he weaves enthralling tales of murder and political intrigue.