Neriman Hikmet (1912-1987) was an author who published works of poetry, short stories, and novels; worked as a journalist alongside Suat Derviş; managed the journal Yeni Edebiyat (New Literature); and was a prominent activist within the leftist movement of her time. However, she is a forgotten writer today, whose works have been disregarded and overlooked. While novels in Turkish literature focusing on the village and its inhabitants’ problems -both before and after the establishment of the Republic- were typically penned by male authors, Köyün Dulları (The Widows of the Village) holds significant importance as a novel from the 1940s in which a female author addresses the village and the issues faced by its women from a realist perspective. Köyün Dulları centers on the struggle of women in the village of Cıvgalı to exist within a patriarchal society. Through the characters of Elif and her mother Fadime, Neriman Hikmet interrogates the meaning of the concept of honor (namus) within the patriarchal society, while realistically depicting the arduous lives of women in rural areas. Therefore, a feminist analysis of the work is necessary to comprehend Elif’s struggle to persevere within a patriarchal system that subjugates women through traditions and customs. This article will examine Neriman Hikmet’s treatment of female identity in her novel Köyün Dulları. It will expose the extent of the oppression imposed by a patriarchal system that objectifies and “others” women, and scrutinize the female characters’ modes of existence under this subjugation. Furthermore, with a focus on Köyün Dulları, this study will evaluate the novelistic craft of this author, who was overlooked by the literary canon of her time, thereby determining the novel’s place within the genre of the Turkish village novel.