In Life with a View: A Turkish Quest American teachers Toni and Craig, traveling through Turkey in 1988, fall in love with the Black Sea coast and decide to build a house there. This is the story of their 10-year endeavor to overcome unforeseen obstacles, secure water and electricity, and learn to flourish in their newly-adopted Asian environment.
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Fascinating, funny, harrowing, Life with a View is a breathtaking adventure, start to finish. I read it with a mixture of admiration and envy--and I couldn’t put it down. (John Berendt )
Toni Sepeda’s driving wanderlust, her passion for adventure (not to exclude dinner) and her love (and exasperation) for Turkey color this charming story of acquiring a house with a view of the sea. (Gael Greene )
Around an engrossing and sometimes hilarious account of the building of a holiday home--ten years in the making--on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, a rich social, cultural and historical hinterland is opened up. Evocative, informative and entertaining, the book brims with fascinating insights into Turkish life. (Peter Kemp )
In Life with a View, Toni Sepeda gives a clear-eyed and loving picture of how to get things done (or not) in Turkey--a country where she is completely at home. (Donna Leon )
One chapter of Life with a View is worth a whole Year in Provence. (John Freely )
Toni Sepeda’s driving wanderlust, her passion for adventure (not to exclude dinner) and her love (and exasperation) for Turkey color this charming story of acquiring a house with a view of the sea. (Gael Greene )
Around an engrossing and sometimes hilarious account of the building of a holiday home--ten years in the making--on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, a rich social, cultural and historical hinterland is opened up. Evocative, informative and entertaining, the book brims with fascinating insights into Turkish life. (Peter Kemp )
In Life with a View, Toni Sepeda gives a clear-eyed and loving picture of how to get things done (or not) in Turkey--a country where she is completely at home. (Donna Leon )
One chapter of Life with a View is worth a whole Year in Provence. (John Freely )
About the Author
Toni Sepeda has lived abroad since the 1970s, teaching literature and art history in Europe. Her passions for travel, food and art influence this book about building a house on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.
Author resides near Venice, Italy.
Author resides near Venice, Italy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Celebrating life,
This review is from: Life With a View: A Turkish Quest (Paperback)
If you liked "Italian Neighbors", "Dinner with Persephone", "Under the Tuscan Sun", or "Eat, Pray, Love" you will adore this book.
"Life with a view" disproves Yeat's claim that the artist must choose between perfection of the life or of the work. Toni Sepeda has perfected both--the rich experiences of her quest for the sublime in everyday life are described in exquisite detail in her work. Each perfectly chosen word illustrates the glory of a life filled to the brim with celebrations of every meal, every task, and every view. Descriptions of the wealth of wildflowers, the dragon rock, and the glittering sea carry the reader away to a land of enchantment. We fall in love with the characters we meet along the way--Osman, Ali, Mehmet, and Adnan (not to mention Rumi, Odysseus, and Xenophon), We cheer each triumph and sigh with resignation when Allah's will prevents an easy victory. The quotations that start each section and chapter are perfect gems, and the pen and ink illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. With each page the reader is reminded that the glory of life is in the journey, not the destination. We close the book at the end feeling richer for having joined the author on her quest.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful View,
By Sandiego Bene` (Aviano, Italy) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Life With a View: A Turkish Quest (Paperback)
This is not the type of book I normally read, however it was wonderful. Toni Sepeda writes about her trials of building a house in a foreign country. Her telling is insightful and often humorous. The differences in customs between Turkey, America and her regular home of Venice are strikingly clear. Her quest to build a home with a view helped me to rethink my own life and to look for my own view to appreciate.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read,
By
This review is from: Life With a View: A Turkish Quest (Paperback)
I was fortunate to live in Italy the last 4 years and have the author as teacher and mentor. Taking art history and appreciation classes with her in Aviano and Venice was definitely one of the main highlights. She and her partner, Craig, who is featured in the book, are both wonderful teachers and mentors. During the summer they head to the coast of Turkey and experience all the magic and wonder of travel, as well as frustration and disbelief. This is a wonderful culmination of discovery, partnership and beautiful experiences of building a home and living in a foreign land.
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