The sense of community among women in a Turkish village is explored in this story of a paterfamilias whose five daughters cannot satisfy his desire for a son. In a practice called "berdel" he exchanges his eldest daughter for a second wife in hopes that she will bear him a son. "Although (this) family drama is political on one level...its tensions are deeply and comically familiar....This could be a setup for tragedy, but Omer's will to stupidity is counterbalanced by the budding consciousness of his wives and daughters: Berdel makes not only feminism but reproductive rights seem like a logical outgrowth of traditional family life. (Which of course they are.)" (Julie Philips, Village Voice)