Christina Phillips, grieving after a personal tragedy, leaves California for Istanbul, hoping the exotic sights and sounds and smells of the ancient city will help her heal. But when she finds herself being stalked by a young Kurdish woman and threatened by a driver who seems to know all about her family and her life, she must correct old injustices by unraveling family secrets before tragedy strikes once again.

Zari Rahman fled the bombs and chemical warfare of war torn Kurdistan, seeking safety and a new life for her newborn daughter. In Istanbul, homeless and desperate, she receives an unexpected kindness that comes at a soul-crushing price.

The lives of these women collide in the city where the East meets West, where together they must travel a perilous path to justice and redemption.

When the Mirror Cracks connects the past and present narratives of mothers and daughters in a tale about women and sacrifice, community and exclusion, cultural identity, and the refugee experience.