An intricately detailed, meditative account of obsessive love set in 1970s Istanbul, this novel brings its narrator's world to vivid life. Kemal, son of a wealthy family, seems destined for a happy marriage and bright future until his fixation on a beautiful shopgirl becomes the focal point of his life. Somehow this hyperfocus gives the book a surreal air, the internal workings of Kemal's mind taking precedent over any other point of view.