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ELIF SHAFAK U.S.A. $25.00 Canada $3 7.50 The Saint of Incipient Insanities is the heartbreaking story of a group of friends and their never-ending quest for happiness and fulfillment. Omer, Abed, and Piyu are roommates, foreigners all recently arrived in the United States. Omer is a Ph.D. student in political science from Istanbul who adapts quickly to his new home and falls in love with the bisexual, intellectual chocolate maker Gail. Gail is American yet feels utterly displaced in her home land and moves from one obsession to another in an effort to find solid ground. Abed pursues a degree in biotechnology and worries about Omer's unruly ways, his mother's unexpected visit, and stereotypes of Arabs in America as he struggles to maintain a con nection with his girlfriend back home in Morocco. Piyu is Spanish, studying to be a dentist in spite of his fear of sharp objects, and is baffled by the many rela tives of his anorexic Mexican-American girlfriend, Alegre-and in many ways by Alegre herself. As time passes, their relationships with each other change and challenge these mismatched friends' preconceptions of themselves, their countries, and their adopted homeland. A vibrant exploration of love, friendship, culture, nationality, exile, and be longing, The Snint of Incipient Insanities introduces a wonderful new voice in international fiction. The Saint of Incipient Insanities The Saint of Incipient Insanities Eli/ Sha/ale San Rafael Public Library 1100 E Street San Rafael, CA 94901 Farrar, Straus and Giroux Nell' York Farrar, Straus and Giroux 19 Union Square West, New York 10003 Copyright © 2004 by Elif Shafak All rights reserved Distributed in Canada by Douglas & Mcintyre Ltd. Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2004 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shafak, Elif, 1971- The saint of incipient insanities I Elif Shafak. - 1st ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-374-25357-8 ISBN-10: 0-374-25357-9 (alk. paper) 1. Students, Foreign-United States-Fiction. 2. Graduate students-Fiction. 3. Young adults-Fiction. 4. Immigrants-Fiction. 5. Friendship-Fiction. I. Title. PS3619.H328S25 2004 813'.6-dc22 2003027975 Designed by Patrice Sheridan www.fsgbooks.com 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 I saw a crow running about with a stork I marveled long and investigated their case, In order that I might find the clue As to what it was that they had in common ... When amazed and bewildered, I approached them, Then indeed I saw that both of them were lame. -Rumi, Matbnawi, Boole fl "Tbe CaUJe of a BirQj Flying and Feeding witb a Bird Tbat /J Noto/ ltJ Own Kind" The Saint of Incipient Insanities