Madam Ataturk The first lady of modern turkey

"Sumptuous, surprising, and profound."-Orhan Pamuk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is hailed as one of the most charismatic political leaders of the twentieth century, but little is known today about his one and only wife, Latife Hanim. A multilingual intellectual who read law at the Sorbonne, she was a suffragist who closely followed women's movements around the world.

Her marriage set her apart from her contemporaries, raising her to the pinnacle of political power, truly able to work for the betterment of the women of Turkey. But just after two and a half years, Atatürk divorced her and Hanim was forgotten and maligned. Public opinion became dominated by the image of a sharp-tongued, quarrelsome woman who strained Atatürk's nerves.

In the first biography to be written on Latife Hanim, Ipek Çalislar reveals an astonishing woman, ahead of her time.