NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Touching, slyly comic, and humming with cerebral suspense—a masterful novel of "political intrigue and philosophy, romance and noir" (Vogue) and the lethal chemistry between secular doubt and Islamic fanaticism from the Nobel Prize winner.

An exiled poet named Ka returns to Turkey and travels to the forlorn city of Kars. His ostensible purpose is to report on a wave of suicides among religious girls forbidden to wear their head-scarves. But Ka is also drawn by his memories of the radiant Ipek, now recently divorced.

Amid blanketing snowfall and universal suspicion, Ka finds himself pursued by figures ranging from Ipek’s ex-husband to a charismatic terrorist. A lost gift returns with ecstatic suddenness. A theatrical evening climaxes in a massacre. And finding god may be the prelude to losing everything else.

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Published Jul 19, 2005

425 pages

Average rating: 7.67

18 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
May 04, 2025
6/10 stars
Really loved a lot of it but in the end it was slow and I was glad that it was over. Beautiful writing though.
lvillarreal
Apr 09, 2025
6/10 stars
It was not that interesting. I was able to sustain my interest to finish it but it felt more like a chore.

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