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Article: `Halide's Gift,' by Frances Kazan; Random House.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- September 5, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On the day of her mother's funeral in 1889, a 7-year-old sees a girl singing in a Constantinople mosque.
"Her hands were clasped in front of her," Frances Kazan writes in "Halide's Gift," "and she was swaying back and forth to the rhythm of her song, the Mevlud, the traditional Turkish hymn ascribed to Mohammed's mother as she waited for the birth of the Prophet. ... The sound of the singer's voice rang in Halide's ears long after her departure."
The young Halide Edib later tells her grandmother about the encounter. "That was no mortal child," the old woman replies. "That was the spirit of your mother. ... This is our family gift. It passes from mother ...