When Brendan Shanahan returned to Turkey after two years to catch up with old friends, he found much had changed. Not only was the country itself transforming, but the lives of his Turkish friends seemed to be mirroring the growing pains of a nation on the cusp of its biggest transformation since independence. After travelling extensively in the wilds of the east - where, among other things, he found himself in the middle of a gunfight, was propositioned by shepherds and swam to Armenia in his underpants - Brendan eventually agreed to run his friend's carpet shop in Istanbul. With only the dubious help of his carpet-dealer friend, a lovable but frequently demanding bipolar drug addict, the results were often disastrous, frequently hilarious and occasionally poignant. By the end of his travels he was broke and owned more carpets than floor, but had come to a deeper understanding both of a country he loved and the people he loved in it.

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