Istanbul Dreaming, the debut novel from Denise Derya Brandt, is a historical coming-of-age novel about a young Turkish woman who defies family, faith, and tradition to claim autonomy over her body and future in 1950s Istanbul, as the country strains between conservative values and emerging modernity. After fleeing an abusive arranged marriage, Ayten builds an independent life among working women in the city and begins a forbidden romance with an American airman, forcing her to choose between family loyalty and the freedom to define her own life.
Brandt worked in international development for more than twenty years and led women’s health projects in Afghanistan, Liberia, and Myanmar before starting to write fiction.
Istanbul Dreaming is set to be released by She Writes Press on September 29, 2026. It is available for pre-order now.
Debutiful is excited to reveal the cover, which was designed by Kat Black, along with a Q&A with Brandt about its creation.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
Yes! I knew I wanted some kind of ornate border, similar to Turkish iznik ceramic tiles, which are very ornate. In fact, the first time I printed my draft manuscript to review, I placed it inside a three-ring binder and mocked up a cover with a border of blue and red iznik tiles. I was thrilled when a similar version of that ornate border actually made it onto the final cover.
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
My cover design process was very collaborative, which I’m grateful for. My publisher asked me to prepare a detailed Cover Memo, in which I shared details about my book and my ideal readers, as well as images of book covers whose designs I admire and why. I also included images of Turkish tiles and the Istanbul skyline to inspire the designer. My publisher’s design team used that information to prepare six different cover options. I then had the opportunity to share what I most liked about the covers, whether it be the colors, the font, the image, and ask for tweaks to my top two choices. My publisher then presented me with three revised options in response to my feedback. Ultimately, the cover I chose was my least favorite as it was originally presented, but after integrating my feedback and swapping the main image under the ornate border with an image from a different design, it became my favorite. After one final tweak, I had the cover for Istanbul Dreaming. When I saw it, I knew it perfectly captured my vision and the book’s essence.
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
I felt elated! I printed the cover in the actual book size, taped it to another book, and displayed it on a stand on my desk where I could see it every day. Having something tangible to hold made it all feel real, like I was finally holding proof that this dream, that Istanbul Dreaming, was actually happening.
How does the cover work to convey what the book is all about?
The book is called Istanbul Dreaming. I think the cover shows an alluring part of Istanbul, from the ornate window to the city, to the ancient architectural marvel Hagia Sophia in the skyline, to the Maiden’s Tower (Kız Kulesi) in the middle of the Bosphorus strait.
I’ve passed the Maiden’s Tower countless times on ferries, and it’s always captivated me, so I featured it in Istanbul Dreaming. Legend says a sultan built it to imprison his daughter, hoping to save her from a prophecy of death by snakebite. (Spoiler: it didn’t work.) Over the centuries, it’s served as a lighthouse, quarantine station, and now a restaurant.
In one of my favorite scenes of Istanbul Dreaming, Ayten and Earl are on a ferry passing the tower. She wants to tell him about the legend, but her English isn’t good enough yet, so she thinks about it instead, and the reader learns the story she can’t quite share. As she recalls the tale of a father locking his daughter away, she’s acutely aware of her own hard-won freedom, sitting beside Earl on this ferry, no longer confined by the life her father had planned for her.