Turkish telenovelas are thriving in Latin America

SHEREZADE, A YOUNG widow, needs cash to pay for her son’s leukaemia treatment. She accepts $150,000 in return for sleeping with her boss Onur, a balding misogynist who advises his friends not to trust women because “perfidy fills them like the weave of their beautiful garments”. Unexpectedly, the pair fall in love. But—plot spoiler—it takes two failed engagements, one divorce, the appearance of illegitimate children, a miscarriage caused by poisonous tea, a few assassinations and one suicide for the couple finally to commit to one another in episode 179 (the son survives, too).