They Burn Thistles - Softcover

"[A] master storyteller" (New York Times)

"[Kemal's] work, and, when all is said and done, his life, are injected with a burning humanism and a fierce belief in mankind's potential for good over evil. In showing a better way forward, shaping the lives of his characters with tolerance and understanding, Kemal's fiction occupies a moral plane far higher than that of human conflict and base revenge" (Observer)

"He is the architect of unforgettable literary heroes and a beacon for writers of the generations that followed him" (Elif Shafak)

"The second part of the stirring Memed chronicle, by the man acknowledged to be Turkey's greatest contemporary writer" (Washington Post)

"Kemal's ability to delve into human nature and bring out the universal traits in his characters made his novels accessible to all sections of society" (Independent)

This is the story of a bitter war between the poor Turkish peasants of the Taurus Mountains and the Aghas who covet their land. Ali Safa is determined to take possession of the village of Vayvay but its inhabitants will not sell. Then one villager weakens, prepared to part with his land in return for the Agha's best stallion. But this ill-fated deal sets in motion a chain of events which will see the young brigand Slim Memed take up the cause of the poor once again, with dramatic consequences.