by Orhan Pamuk
First published 2012
Ka, a middle-aged poet, returns to Istanbul after years of political exile in Western Europe to attend his mother's funeral. News of a disturbing trend draws him further into Turkey's interior: girls are killing themselves after being banned from wearing headscarves at school. Ka travels to Kars, a remote town near the Russian border where the suicides are concentrated. His motives aren't purely journalistic. Ipek, a luminous woman from his past who recently divorced, lives in Kars. A massive snowstorm traps Ka in the town just as a military coup erupts to suppress local Islamist radicals. Cut off from the westernized world he knows, Ka finds himself pulled toward Ipek and the possibility of love, caught up in political violence, and unexpectedly confronting questions of faith. The crisis awakens his long-dormant creativity, and poems pour out of him in sudden bursts. Ka must navigate the collision between secular and religious forces while pursuing his last chance at happiness with Ipek.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, 21st-century, political-thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Istanbul, Kars, Russia, Turkey, Western Europe
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
573 pages · Paperback · De Bezige Bij