My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk - Faber And Faber

Fabulous... It is a wonderful novel, dreamy, passionate and augst, exotic in the most original and exciting way. 

- Philip Hensher, Spectator

In Istanbul, in the late 1590s, the Sultan secretly commissions a great book: a celebration of his life and his empire, to be illuminated by the best artists of the day - in the European manner. But when one of the miniaturists goes missing and is feared murdered, their master seeks outside help. Did the dead painter fall victim to professional rivalry, romantic jealousy or religious terror?

A thrilling murder mystery, My Name is Red is also a stunning meditation on love, artistic devotion and the tensions between East and West.

More than any other book I can think of, it captures not just (Istanbuls) past and present contradictions, but also its terrible, timeless beauty. Its almost perfect, in other words. All it needs is the Nobel Prize.

- Maureen Freely, New Statesman

Magnificent... This book might well be ona of the few recent works of fiction that will be remembered at the end of this century. 

- Observer

A scintillating fusion of murder mystery, postmodernist fable and historical romance. 

- Scotland on Sunday