**From the Nobel Prize winner and "one of the great novelists" (The
Washington Post) comes a stirring exploration of the nature of romance
in late 1970s Istanbul.
**
It is 1975, a perfect spring in Istanbul. Kemal and Sibel, children of
two prominent families, are about to become engaged. But when Kemal
encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation, he
becomes enthralled. And once they violate the code of virginity, a rift
begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul
bourgeoisie. In his pursuit of Füsun over the next eight years, Kemal
becomes a compulsive collector of objects that chronicle his lovelorn
progress--amassing a museum that is both a map of a society and of his
heart.