The Museum of Innocence

The Museum of Innocence - set in Istanbul between 1975 and today - tells the story of Kemal the son of one of Istanbul's richest families and of his obsessive love for a poor and distant relation the beautiful Fusun who is a shop-girl in a small boutique. The novel depicts a panoramic view of life in Istanbul as it chronicles this long obsessive love affair between Kemal and Fusun; and Pamuk beautifully captures the identity crisis esperienced by Istanbul's upper classes who find themselves caught between traditional and westernised ways of being.