Set in Istanbul between 1975 and today, this is the story of Kemal, and of his obsessive love for a poor and distant relation, the beautiful Fusun. The novel depicts a panoramic view of life in Istanbul. Pamuk beautifully captures the identity crisis experienced by Istanbul's upper classes caught between traditional and westernised ways of being.
'I read a book one day, and my whole life was changed.' So begins The New Life, Orhan Pamuk's fabulous road novel about a young student who yearns for the life promised by a dangerously magical book. He falls in love, abandons his studies, turns his back on home and family, and embarks on restless bus trips through the provinces, in pursuit of an elusive vision. This is a wondrous odyssey, laying bare the rage of an arid heartland. In coffee houses with black-and-white TV sets, on buses where passengers ride watching B-movies on flickering screens, in wrecks along the highway, in paranoid fictions with spies as punctual as watches, the magic of Pamuk's creation comes alive.