Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

Winner of the Independent Award for Foreign Fiction

'Turkey's foremost novelist . . . A first-rate storyteller.' Times Literary Supplement
'Comparisons with Kafka and Calvino do not exaggerate.' Independent
'One of those are novels that call into being a complete and self-contained world shot through with a peculiar brilliance.' New York Times

*Orhan Pamuk's first novel published in English*

A young Italian scholar is captured by pirates between Venice and Naples. After being put up for auction at the Istanbul slave market, he is bought by a Turkish savant eager to learn about scientific and intellectual advances in the West.
But as master and slave bond over each other's sins and secrets, their relationship grows increasingly complex. They soon find themselves part of the Sultan's army, and on a journey that will lead them to the mythical White Castle.