The courtiers of today

"You know, where is Ayşen, who was half-standing upright, clumsy and timid, crouching against the door of the car on the first day? The girl from Düzce who said 'I can be Ayşe if you want', with tears in her eyes, is gone and this one has come in her place. This? Rüştü, Faruk Senai' This stagnant, unfeeling temptress who makes Mr. Thomas and millionaires subservient to orders..."

Today's Palace tells the story of a hidden love that begins with the arrival of his nephew, whom he will see for the first time, to the modest house of Ata Efendi, who is well-off and past middle age, in Gedikpaşa. Refik Halid Karay meticulously writes about the internal conflicts, hidden feelings, self-interest and passions of the characters, and carries us into the depths of a love affair experienced in Istanbul in the 1940s, with portraits and locations from the period.

Born in 1888 in Beylerbeyi as the son of Serveznedar Mehmed Halid, Refik Halid's maternal side is based on the Crimean Girays; His father's side is from the Karakayış family, a branch of which migrated from Mudurnu to Istanbul in the late 18th century. The writer, who studied at "Galatasaray Sultanisi" and "Mekteb-i Hukuk", started journalism during the Constitutional Monarchy. He quickly became famous with his satirical writings and became one of the founders of the "Fecri Âti" literary group. As a result of the satires and political articles he wrote under the name "Hedgehog", he was exiled for five years in various provinces of Anatolia by the Union and Progress government, but was able to return to Istanbul in the last year of World War I. Upon his return, Refik Halid worked as a teacher at Robert College, as editor-in-chief of Sabah newspaper, and as General Manager of Post-Telegraph twice, and during this period he published the humor magazine "Aydede".


The writer, who had to leave the country due to his political writings and views, settled in Aleppo and contributed to connecting Hatay to Turkey with his articles and works in the "Vahdet" newspaper he published. Refik Halid, who returned home in 1938, wrote daily articles in magazines and newspapers and wrote about 20 novels.

Refik Halid, who carries the time period from the Constitutional Monarchy to the Republic in his works of different genres with his strong observation ability and the richness of his language, describes the reality of Anatolia in Homeland Stories; In his works such as Homeland Stories and Exile, he brought together deep longing for his homeland with literature. In the author's humorous works such as Ago Pasha's Memoirs and What the Hedgehog Said; In his chronicles such as A Fistful of Nonsense and Woman with Make-up; In his memoirs titled Minelbab İlelmihrab and A Lifetime, his versatile and colorful narration enables him to illustrate the social-political environment. In his novels such as Anahtar, Nilgün, Two-Body Woman, Lover of 2000 Years, and Today's Palacelisi, he combines his descriptive talent and creativity in gripping fictions, and deals with individual relationships in general and male-female relationships in particular, in depth in space-time dimensions, and focuses on the periods and places in which the novels are set. It enriches its narrative by including fine details.

Author Refik Halid, who died in Istanbul on 18.7.1965, is one of the most powerful names in Turkish literature with the sharpness of his opposition pen, clean Istanbul Turkish, colorful expression, power of description and creativity. The author is in our publishing house with all his works.



Number of Pages: 312

Year of Printing: 2013


Language: Turkish
Publisher: İnkılap Kitabevi

First Printing Year: 2010

Language: Turkish