Children's Books (ages 8-12) • Novels

Aşağİstanbul
İSTANBUL BELOW

Melis Sena Yılmaz

Editor: Müren Beykan

An “unusual” İstanbul adventure!

Young author Melis Sena Yılmaz invites her readers to an unusual, surreal İstanbul in her first children’s novel.  She takes us on an unforgettable journey through the mysterious streets of İstanbul Below, accessed from the Galata district.  Flowing with a clear language from the eyes of a child chasing the unknown by following her father’s footsteps, the novel is enriched with amazing characters and surprising places. A fantasy adventure that praises the unlimited imagination of childhood, which makes us to think about the question “What would it be like if there was a different İstanbul?”. It’s a story that makes us feel the value of the differences that we need to protect and keep alive.

Overview

Zeynep’s father who is a detective, has suddenly disappeared. Following his trail, Zeynep finds herself together with her carefree grandmother in the extraordinary streets of an unusual mysterious İstanbul, the İstanbul Below. She manages to make friends in this mysterious, seemingly unsafe world with its strange seagulls, Galata unicorns, wild lamps and satyrs. However, while the villains were making big plans to reveal the secrets of this world, would Zeynep be able to find her father, with the help of Orkun, Santa Claus and Süslü, and save İstanbul Below and its inhabitants?

AUTHOR

Melis Sena Yılmaz

Melis Sena Yılmaz was born in Bursa in 1997. She completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Boğaziçi University, Department of Economics in İstanbul. Her short stories have been published in various platforms. She was influenced by Karaköy and Şişhane districts of İstanbul, where she worked during her studentship years. The surreal world that came to her mind while walking through the streets of Beyoğlu transformed into the children’s novel titled İstanbul Below (Aşağİstanbul, 2022). Her second novel, The Third […]
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