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The Kurdish Bike: A Book Club Favorite

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Book Club Favorite ~ Winner of 3 International Book Awards “For fans of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Five stars.” — San Francisco Book Review “A must- read for anyone interested in the Middle East. Five stars.” — Manhattan Book Review "Lightbourne writes in a cinematic prose and easily folds in background about the Kurdish people’s suffering under Saddam Hussein. This story of sisterhood, motherhood, and nationhood should have wide appeal." — BookLife Inspired by the incredible true story of an American teacher in northern Iraq, The Kurdish Bike is a gripping, compassionate and often wry tale of adventure set in one of the world’s least understood cultures. It is 2010, and Theresa Turner responds to an online ad for “courageous teachers to help rebuild a war-torn country.” Landing in a repressive school for Kurd elites, she yearns to experience the "real” Kurdistan, buys a bicycle, and explores the nearby villages and countryside. When she is befriended by a local widow, Theresa is embroiled in the joys and agonies of traditional Kurds, especially the women who survived Saddam’s genocide only to be crippled by age-old restrictions, female genital mutilation (FGM), brutality and honor killings. She experiences a female bonding that transcends cultures, and a generosity that staggers the imagination. Theresa’s greatest challenge will be balancing respect for local values while trying to introduce more enlightened attitudes toward women — at the same time seeking new spiritual dimensions within herself. The Kurdish Bike is a novel of love, betrayal and redemption. Well-developed characters face life-and-death decisions, and are not always who they seem. Unexpected changes back home have devastating impacts on the expatriates. And it is impossible to determine who is a genuine ally in such a foreign setting. Add to this the main character's desire for inner transformation, and you have a must-read page turner that haunts the reader for months. It is the winner of the Gold Medal for Best Regional eBook from Independent Publishers, First Prize in the North Street Book Awards, and Readers Favorite Best Cultural Fiction Bronze Medal. The Kurdish Bike is highly recommended for book clubs. The author gives frequent presentations on Kurdish culture to clubs, public libraries, universities, churches, community service groups, etc. and will speak to groups via Skype upon request. She is a passionate supporter of women's causes in rural Kurdistan, and is committed to helping the women described in the book create a better life for themselves. Visitfor book club discussion questions and recipes for a Kurdish- themed meal. Read more

Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more


Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 18, 2016


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 2.7 MB


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • More than a good read, it’s a book you feel good about having read.
Format: Paperback
The Kurdish Bike works on many levels. Billed as a novel, it has the direct feeling and intensity of a memoir- which the afterword reveals it in some part is. This is a deeply personal story of connections between people from very different cultures, their deep affection and profound differences. In particular, the ways in which women in both American and Kurdish societies deal with the burdens placed on them by their societies are illustrated with subtlety and insight. Teresa, the narrator, is a fifty-something American teacher, recently divorced and nearly financially wiped out by her ex-husband. With her only child away at college, she seeks change by taking a position teaching in a for profit school in Kurdistan. This is a grim and rigid institution she comes to refer to as “The Fortress”. The Fortress is populated by a ragtag collection of expats and Middle Easterners who form minor narratives in themselves, but the main thrust of the story is driven by Teresa’s desire for freedom. The “Kurdish Bike” in the title is her means of escape from the confines of the Fortress, of making connections with the Kurdish people in the local village. In the process she discovers much about their devastating recent history, and the millenniums of struggle that have saturated this ancient countryside. Always, the human relationships are at the forefront, conveyed in clear and polished prose, with humor and warmth. To simply list the issues Teresa encounters in Kurdistan- abandoned women, female genital mutilation, honor killings, the total dominance of women’s lives and decisions by the men in their family, and potential jihadist recruits- would make The Kurdish Bike sound like a grim jeremiad. It is anything but. We are instead led through an engaging and sometimes dramatic story to see the world though new- and less judgmental- eyes. Teresa is continually confronted not just with the challenges women face in Kurdish society, but with the mirroring challenges she faces in her own. The result is a more complex, human, and far more powerful understanding- one that helps to erase the picture of the Kurds as an exotic “other” and lets us see through to our common humanity. And perhaps enables us to see our western culture as sometimes not so advanced as we would like to think. I am rarely moved to write reviews, and don’t do a lot of book recommending, but I’m passing copies of The Kurdish Bike out to friends and find myself talking and thinking about it a lot. It’s one of the most memorable books I have read in a long, long time. More than a good read, it’s a book you feel good about having read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2016 by Ronald Russell
    • Kurdish Cycling Tour de Force
Format: Paperback
Just a charming tale! Less about mud on the chainring or the problem of headwinds, and more about the fascinating encounters that a bike makes possible. The bike in question, dubbed "The Blue Angel" by its rider, the author, is a means of escaping from the guarded compound of her international school in Iraqi Kurdistan to a nearby Kurd village . Here she meets and befriends an ordinary Kurdish family and the rest of the book is a fascinating account of the diverse ways of the Kurds, driven by a strong narrative. I would recommend this to anyone who would like to learn more about Kurdistan through the means of an engrossing and well-told tale. A fabulous and informative yarn. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2017 by Warwick
    • A pretty good book
Format: Paperback
THE KURDISH BIKE is a pretty good book, especially in light of recent news stories about the plight of our Kurdish allies in northern Syria. Alesa Lightbourne's autobiographical novel, based on her own year spent teaching in Iraq's "Kurdistan," focuses on a number of subjects - the narrator's failed marriage and financial problems, which brought her to Iraq, an ancient culture she tried to understand, friendships, with her fellow expats and some locals, and adventures and entanglements she got caught up in. There is also a subplot which touches tangentially on the ancient practice of female genital mutilation, and the narrator's horror at this locally accepted practice of "cutting" young girls. While the writing is quite good, the storyline seems a bit too scattered, causing the narrative to stutter along, to ebb and flow, so it was something of a struggle to stick with. I could not relate closely to any of the characters, so that was a problem. The narrator-protagonist, sixty-ish Theresa Turner, seemed at times a touch too gullible to be real, but I liked her sense of humor, so that kept me reading. But the ending seemed so anticlimactic that, well, it was hardly an ending at all. That said, it was still a "pretty good book" and yeah, I'd recommend it, especially to readers curious about Kurdish life and expat teachers in the mideast. (three and a half stars) - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2019 by Timothy J. Bazzett

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