Sevin Sahin's debut novel 'La fille de la Colline' explores womanhood from Turkey to France

Sevin Sahin publishes her first novel 'La fille de la Colline' with éditions Philippe Rey, weaving three voices across different eras to define a single person: Sibel, followed from Ankara to Paris. The story centers on Sibel, who swore never to have a son but is now mother to a two-year-old boy in a coma. She keeps vigil at his bedside, alternating with her husband, whom she barely sees. Supported by nurse Elsa and the intriguing Dr. Beausert, Sibel confronts memories of her childhood in Turkey's Alevi community on Pomme Hill near Ankara, where tradition offered women no future outside marriage, and her later years in France spent in clubs as an occasional dealer, addicted to ecstasy, electronic music, and men. Now past that excess, she seeks meaning in her fragmented identity to save her son. The novel was discussed in an interview on RFI's 'Littérature sans frontières' podcast, aired May 8, 2026, with musical illustration by Sezen Aksu's 'Ünzile'.