Nektaria Anastasiadou

Elif Shafak’s Istanbul Reading List for The New York Times

Runciman Award 2022 Shortlist

Eric Hoffer Award 2022 Finalist & Honorable Mention

Dublin Literary Award 2022 Longlist

WNBA 2021 Great Group Read

“A novel to be thoroughly savored, from its enticing culinary elements to its charming love stories.”
- Vanessa H. Larson for The Washington Post

“A Recipe for Daphne sheds courageous light on the lives of the Greek Orthodox Christian communities of Istanbul, including the memory of the horrific 1955 pogrom.”

-Elif Shafak for The New York Times

“A meditation on identity and the scars of history. Through [Anastasiadou’s] rich characters, the Rum people's painful history over the last century also comes to light.”
- Public Radio International

“An astonishing debut novel, extraordinarily accomplished."
-Peter Frankopan, Oxford University, author of The Silk Roads

“A unique work that re-imagines histories, inverts narratives and engages in the subtleties of human identity, without ever losing the lightness and gracefulness of its touch, or indeed the aroma of the culinary delicacies it evokes, A Recipe For Daphne is a ground-breaking, multifaceted novel that begs to be re-read innumerable times.”
-Dean Kalimniou for Neos Kosmos

“A charming and engaging story, full of wise insights about human nature, and thoughts about the challenges facing the Greek community in Istanbul.”
- Nicholas de Lange, Cambridge University, author of An Introduction to Judaism

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Fanis Paleologos, a charming widower, is at the center of a small yet stubbornly proud community of Rum, Greek Orthodox Christians, who have lived in Istanbul for centuries. When American-born Daphne arrives in Istanbul to study Turkish in preparation for a PhD in oral history, Fanis’s memories of the 1955 pogrom and the fiancée he lost shortly afterward are reawakened.

While Fanis struggles to confront his buried past, his friend Kosmas, a master pastry chef, falls in love with Daphne and attempts to attract her attention by searching for a forgotten Ottoman pastry recipe.

But Daphne is more concerned with finding her place in the world, whether that is in Miami, where she was born, or in Istanbul, the city of her ancestors. And she also has a secret that may change Kosmas’s feelings about her. 

This contemporary novel, sure to transport and entertain, is a literary comedy about the resilience of Istanbul’s Rum Community.

“The pages of Anastasiadou’s novel shimmer with the romance of Istanbul, and her vivid prose evokes its magical melange, even as her characters wonder how to hold on to their vibrant but dwindling world….In the searching conversations that give this novel a pulse, its characters unspool the twists of Turkish history that brought light or darkness, pondering aloud over what this portends for their future.”
-Anne-Marie O’Connor, author of The Lady in Gold, for The Markaz Review

"This is a story about intersections, the entanglement of people, cultures, and languages meeting and evolving. There are lines that divide, but there is life in between those lines where we find Anastasiadou’s enchanting characters."
-Manal Shakir for Arab News

“I read this charming, shrewd and enlightening first novel in two compulsive sittings, fascinated by how an entirely different slice of Istanbul opened up within the pages. A Recipe for Daphne is a delight from start to finish.”
-Caroline Eden, author of Black Sea

“Astute and funny, Anastasiadou’s novel is a page-turner…with an insider’s eye on the remarkable place Greeks still call The City.”
-Sofka Zinovieff, author of Putney, for Athens Insider

“Anastasiadou’s skillful blending of the ghosts of the historical past with the joys of living in present-day Istanbul sets this novel apart from everything else that Greeks, Jews and others have written about life in the erstwhile cosmopolitan port cities of the Eastern Mediterranean.” 
– Professor Alexander Kitroeff, author of The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt for The Pappas Post

“Award winner Anastasiadou successfully blends romantic machinations among a group of Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul with a keen portrait of a community…living in the city since at least the 300s CE…Good reading for all.”
– Library Journal

 “A Recipe for Daphne takes old and new love, ancient and modern traditions, very particular characters and mouth-watering food, and weaves a charming tale of individuals, and a minority community, figuring out who, what, and where they want to be. When I finished I immediately wanted to demand the sequel because I missed Anastasiadou’s endearing people, and her fascinating city, so much.”
-Alison Jean Lester, author of Lilian on Life

“Istanbul’s charming presence is felt in every scene, fleshed out with generous depictions of all who populate it, from cashiers to street cats…A Recipe for Daphne is a delightful novel about finding home in foreign places.”
-Forward Reviews

“A Recipe for Daphne is an exquisite novel set among the last remnants and proud carriers of the ancient forgotten culture of Byzantium. Beautifully crafted, delicate, complex . . . I found it hard to put it down. Full of humour and compassion, playfulness and fascinating insights.”
-Rana Haddad, author of The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor

“The book’s playful tone, its clever use of language by borrowing idioms from one language and implanting them in another, the witty description of people and places complement, rather than distract, from the dark ghost of the pogrom.”
-Nazlan Ertan for Duvar English