Debut Turkish Cypriot author has Greek Cypriot publisher 

Greek Cypriot Armida Books published a debut novel by a Turkish Cypriot author in a move described as a collaborative demonstration of tolerance and reconciliation.

Metin Murat’s ‘The Crescent Moon Fox’ is a historical novel set in Cyprus from the 1930s to the early 2000s.

It is a compassionate, heartbreaking, brutal and occasionally humorous novel about Turkish Cypriots.

The reader is immersed in the lives of the inhabitants of a village during the lead-up to Independence from Britain and the tragic aftermath of post-Colonial Cyprus through the lives of two young men.

Zeki is shaped and nurtured by the British Colonial system and is destined for great things; Aydin is a misfit in his community who achieves greatness and redemption in his complex and disturbing way.

British born Murat reveals the glory and trauma of Cypriot life.

Through a group of diverse characters, Murat reveals the true story of Cyprus from a non-partisan perspective reflecting both Greek and Turkish aspirations.

He grew up in a multi-cultural environment with deep exposure to English, French and Welsh cultures and close ties with North Africa, the Levant, and the Gulf for much of his working life and currently lives in France with his wife.

He received his history and literary education from Aberystwyth University, with an undergraduate degree and later a PhD, via a Master’s degree at Lancaster University, and his business education from the London School of Economics.

For much of his adult life, Metin worked for a multinational organisation before setting up his own company in 2011.

This is his debut novel, realising a dual ambition: to tell the story of his father’s community, the Turkish Cypriot community, and to use literature as a path to tolerance and reconciliation.