Love, lies and ruins in Aegean Turkey.
As an unsure archaeology student in 1990, Turkey fascinated me. A mysterious goddess presided over the magnificent ancient site of Ephesus, where on holiday with a friend I met ‘crazy-boy’ carpet-seller Hasan.
I returned alone to midsummer chaos and tales of a girl killed by her former lover. Hasan didn’t always tell the truth but I didn’t either, and his unscrupulous salesmanship at the carpet shop both shocked and drew me. The ruins of the distant past began to seem as real as the present. Turkey offered an escape from difficulties back in England and I resisted Hasan’s attempts to influence what I did.
As tensions built I knew that I should leave, but when Hasan told me he had been called up into the army I needed to find out if it was true or not. The time had come to face up to reality about Hasan, the past and my own life.