NEVER PASS THIS WAY AGAIN

by Gene LePere ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 1987

In late 1983, LePere, a 56-year-old marketing consultant (and daughter of art collector Joseph Hirshhorn), suddenly found herself clapped into a Turkish prison. Her ""crime"": attempting to smuggle an ancient artifact out of the country, a serious offense. She had, in fact, bought the small stone head simply to get rid of a persistent and threatening street peddler. But harsh Turkish law dismisses the most innocent of reasons: LePere faced the near-certainty of an extended prison term. Although LePere has never published before, she writes with the imagery and precision of a professional. With deft strokes, she evokes the Turkish landscape, its ancient ruins and its people as glimpsed during a hectic three-day land excursion, provided as an option during a luxury Mediterranean cruise. She limns portraits of her fellow inmates that pulse with life. Although the women's dormitory in Ismir's Buja prison is overcrowded and short on amenities, it is no Midnight Express. The other incarcerated women reached out to help a terrified, disoriented foreigner, in LePere's words, ""my tenderhearted Turkish cellmates believed I should not have to experience the indignities they willingly suffered as their natural lot."" They saw to it she got necessities such as blankets, soap and so on. She was invited to join an ""eating group"" in which two women spoke some English. (Prison meals were so poor that those who could afford it either bought prepared food or cooked their own.) Although she contributed to the kitty, LePere was not allowed to prepare meals or even to clean up afterwards. But she was in a dangerous environment: a riot occurred between the ""trouble-making"" young radicals and the more traditional prisoners. After three and a half weeks, with the help of the American consulate, her family and a feisty woman lawyer (improbably named Attila Akat), she was granted bail. At this point, heart in mouth, LePete bought the airline ticket that carried her home to freedom. All in all, a remarkable document of a resourceful, independent woman trapped by ""a value system, laws, customs and traditions"" totally alien to what she had known.

Pub Date: May 27, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Adler & Adler--dist. by Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1987

Categories: NONFICTION