I first read Fusun Atalay's memoir, Will Of My Own, about two months ago. It is a book I have continued to revisit, because one reading is not enough. The book is many stories woven into one, because Fusun has lived many lives in one.

Her story takes us on a journey across oceans and cultures and phases of life.

Born in Turkey, Fusun was the first child of  an erratic woman with a painful secret. Her relationship with her mother (a life-long wrestling match between love and hate) runs like an undercurrent throughout the book, and often tugs on Fusun like an undertow.

Luckily, there is music and poetry, too, in the form of Fusun's tender, strong, intelligent father, Babacim.  

I have joked with Fusun that I am in love with Babacim, and that I plan on travelling to Turkey to find my next husband. Actually, reading about Babacim  has helped to heal  my Amercian-made bigotry toward Islamic men. 

I have learned from Will Of My Own. And in many more ways than one.

From Turkey, to Holland, to Montreal; through love affairs, marriages and motherhood; from acts of deep kindness, to acts of devastating betrayal, Will Of My Own is uniquely fascinating and universally heart-breaking.

This memoir is no superficial skimming of life events. It reads with the naked depth of a diary, and there is courage on every page.

If you want to be inspired, angered, touched, and swept away on a journey that will reveal to you as much about yourself as about its brave and tender protagonist (she really is her father's daughter) then read Will Of My Own by Fusun Atalay. This book will change you. And you will be drawn back to move through its silken layers many times.

Will Of My Own, by Fusun Atalay, can be purchased at

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