This, Pamuk's first novel since receiving the Nobel Prize, is one that transcends man's love for a woman. In 1975, in Istanbul, Kemal, 30, falls in love with a distant cousin, Fusun, then 18, though he is engaged to marry another. Both Kemal and his fiance come from the rich, privileged class and have come to terms with the current mores of love and sex according to Turkish values. He believes he can have both his future with his beautiful and educated wife as well as continue his extravagant affairs with Fusun. What follows is their tragic story, set among characters and places within Turkey. Kemal becomes a harder, a collector of obsession, and takes the reader through a museum dedicated to his love. A delicious and intriguing story.
