Boléro

by Ahmet Altan

Aslı, femme indépendante et épanouie, vit à Ankara, où elle est physiothérapeute. Chaque week-end, elle se rend dans la propriété de Mehmet, un ancien procureur condamné pour corruption et violences, qui l’a engagée afin de soulager son dos. Si la nuit ils entretiennent une relation passionnée, Mehmet tient Aslı à distance le jour. Lorsqu’elle rencontre Romaïssa, l’épouse de son amant, une complicité naît entre elles, faite de moments privilégiés au bord de la piscine. Sous le soleil brûlant d’Anatolie, Aslı plonge dans l’intimité du couple et dans le passé trouble de Mehmet, au risque de se perdre.

224 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2025

About the author

He was born 1950 in Ankara, Turkey to the notable journalist and writer Çetin Altan as the first of two sons. His brother Mehmet Altan is also a journalist, writer and university professor of economy politics.

A working journalist for more than twenty years, he has served in all stages of the profession, from being a night shift reporter to editor in chief in various newspapers.

In addition to having written columns in several Turkish newspapers, including Hürriyet, Milliyet and Radikal, Altan has produced news programming for television. He worked as the editor in chief and lead columnist of Taraf, a daily Turkish newspaper, until he resigned from his post in 2012.

He was fired from Milliyet after writing a column on 17 April 1995 titled "Atakurd", which presented an alternate history of Turkey.
In September 2008 when Altan published an article titled "Oh, My Brother" dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, he was charged under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for "denigrating Turkishness". The judicial claim was initiated by the far-right "Great Union Party."

During Turkey's media purge after the failed July 2016 coup d'état on September 23, 2016, Altan, was arrested. On 16 February 2018, along with his brother Mehmet and four others he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the condition that they be locked up for 23 hours each and every day.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

French translation from the Turkish. This is the story of a woman spending a summer living on the edge between her rational, confident daily self as a respected physician, and her weekends spent in her sexual obsession with Mehmet, a louche power-broker.

When Mehmet invites Asli to his isolated estate for a private consultation, it's the beginning, not of a love story, but a summer of weekly escapes and sexual escapades. When Asli meets Romaissa, Mehmet's wife, and notes a certain physical resemblance with herself, Asli becomes equally obsessed with Romaissa, and a sort of triangle develops. But Mehmet's position is precarious and the fear that this delicious, tormenting relationship is likely to end soon further destabilizes Asli's life.

The themes here are : sexual obsession, the Doppelganger motif, and the interplay between fear and desire. The Turkish background is limited to rumblings of violence and corruption, because Asli has never been interested in the world beyond her medical practice until she realizes that Mehmet is caught up in these shadowy dealings. She's an interesting character because she's able to analyze her own dependency on her weekends at Mehmet's domain, she's able to take countermeasures to preserve her independence and sanity...but then she relapses. So in that respect she's not a unidimensional character. It was well done, but I find these stories of obsession and vacillation ultimately rather boring.

[clara]

Un peu « meh »… Je suis déçue parce que j’avais tellement entendu parler de Madame Hayat que j’ai sauté sur l’occasion qd j’ai vu qu’on avait le SP, que la couv était sympa, je me suis dit que ça se vendrait bien… Il s’agit en réalité d’un triangle amoureux qui relève presque de la dark romance mdr, de l’obsession, du désir passionnel, le mec riche qui trempe dans les magouilles et sa femme douce mais hyper sexy, bref, ça m’a un peu fait lever les yeux au ciel parfois ( + les répétitions pas du tout subtiles et fines de ce que la protagoniste ressent, c’était un peu relou )

[Caro Dufour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Histoire un peu chelou mais c’est assez original, ça reste du réel.
J’ai eu du mal au début je trouvais que c’était un peu redondant mais finalement plutôt sympathique.
Il y a des phrases très jolies, peut être un peu trop de description (un peu métaphorique) mais ça va bien avec quand même.

[Nathalie J]

Roman malaisant avec lequel je n’ai pas du tout accroché.
Déçue car j’avais beaucoup aimé Madame Hayat, le précédent livre de cette autrice.

[Annelise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Très underwhelming, on croit creuser mais on creuse pas trop