Part 1, Chapters 1 - 5 Summary

Part 1, Chapter 1: "Gardens of Water" is a fictional novel based on the real-life events of the Marmara Earthquake in Turkey in 1999. The author Alan Drew is an American who was living in Istanbul at the time of the tragedy and working as an English literature teacher. The story of Sinan and his family following the deadly quake is one that Alan Drew constructed based on similar struggles he saw among families in the area, and the clash between American culture and conservative residents of Turkey.

As the book opens, Sinan and his nine-year-old son Ismail are riding the ferry boat back to Gölcük after spending the day in Istanbul. The trip was in honor of Ismail's upcoming circumcision — an event that the child is not looking forward to. When they arrive back at their apartment several...