My Mother’s Story

At the age of seventeen, Zahide is married off to a man fifteen years her senior. Within the sixth month of their marriage, her husband passes away, leaving her pregnant. A few months later, she gives birth to their child.Soon after, Zahide’s sister is also married—this time to the younger brother of Zahide’s late husband. When her sister, too, is widowed while carrying a child and already raising three others, Zahide is compelled, against her will, to marry the surviving brother of her deceased husband. Bound by the constraints of their time, the two sisters come to share not only the same household but also the same destiny. Their lives unfold as a profound testimony to the harshest realities imposed upon women, where personal desire yields to societal pressure, and survival necessitates the surrender of choice. This narrative portrays the endurance of two sisters navigating an oppressive system, their shared sorrow echoing the struggles of countless women silenced by history.