Title: Life in the Depths
Author: Hadi Hajizadeh
Publisher: Independent
Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction
Format: ebook
Length: 155 Pages
Publication Date: March 27, 2022
Synopsis:
An immigrant flees from Iran to Turkey. After a long journey, he starts wandering through the streets of Istanbul with one haunting thought on his mind to find work. In a cafe, he meets Esmail, who introduces him to Salahettin who gives him a job. In the little workshop, during the day he was sticking labels on clothes and at night the workshop became his new home. The atmosphere between the colleagues at work was cheerful and he started to spend more time with one of his colleagues: a Kurdish girl named Berivan.
They start a physical relationship that soon blossoms into something more, but Berivan wants marriage and he is not ready for such a commitment and he pushes her away. To fill the emptiness Berivan left, he starts to hang out more with another girl from work, Golchin. Golchin has a husband and a child yet they begin a secret affair. One day, the pregnant Tulin caught them together at work but kept their secret. Blinded by lust he tried to seduce Tulin, as well as many women on the street. Still, Salahettin and Golchin’s husband discovered the secret lovers. Salahettin slapped him and told him to go away. Losing the woman, the job and a place to stay he was alone again, trying to find a new place of work. He changed a couple of different jobs, but never found a good place that Salahettin provided him with. As he couldn’t get a temporary inhabitance he had to go back to the last place where he wanted to be; back home in Iran, to Tehran.
After three dark months, he took the bus back to Istanbul, regaining the sense of his freedom again. With a help of an Iranian man, he found a new job. Soon he started to despise his fellow countrymen and then he met someone who led him to happiness again. Sitting on the remains of an old castle he met Aydin and his little dog Princess. Aydin invited him for tea and they went to his house. He adored his house and the sense of calmness Aydin provided. Aydin’s house became his new sanctuary. One day when he came to see him, Aydin had remains of makeup on his face and he found out that he was transgender. Aydin offered him they spend the night together, at first he was resistant but gave in to the lust temptations. They shared a beautiful relationship until he started sleeping with Golchin again. He lost them both and in the end fell extremely ill, only to be nurtured back to health by a young boy. The sickness was his atonement for his sins. He continued working hard, saved up money and came back to Iran.
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