Istanbul

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Istanbul, through the mind of its most celebrated writer.

''A declaration of love.'' Sunday Times
''Magnificent, elegiac, impressionistic.'' Literary Review
''An irresistibly seductive book.'' Jan Morris, Guardian

In a surprising and original blend of personal memoir and cultural history, Turkeyâs most celebrated novelist, Orhan Pamuk, explores his home of more than fifty years.

What begins as a portrait of the artist as a young man becomes a shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the worldâs greatest cities. Beginning in the family apartment building where he was born, and still lives, Pamuk uses his family secrets to show how they were typical of their time and place. He then guides us through Istanbul''s monuments and lost paradises, dilapidated Ottoman villas, back streets and waterways, and introduces us to the city''s writers, artists and murderers.

Like Joyceâs Dublin and Borgesâ Buenos Aires, Pamukâs Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.

âThis erudite book manages to be an addictive childhood memoir, a museum-in-prose of a city with West in its head but East in its soul, a study of the alchemy between place and self.â David Mitchell