An extraordinary and transcendentally beautiful book . . . It is a long time since I have read a book of such crystalline originality; or one that moved me so much.' Katie Hickman Turkey's greatest living novelist guides us through the monuments and lost paradises; dilapidated Ottoman villas; back streets and waterways of Istanbul - the city of his birth and home of his imagination. 'This evocative book succeeds at both its tasks. It is one of the most touching childhood memoirs I have read in a very in a very long time; and it makes me yearn - more than any glossy tourist brochure could possibly do - to be once again in Istanbul.' Noel Malcolm 'An irresistibly seductive book; and its seduction lies not in the author's self-portrait; but in his poetical identification with Istanbul . . . His novels have already made him celebrated throughout the world; but perhaps he will be longest remembered for this wistful memorial to the city of his heart.' Jan Morris Cover design by Two Associates Front cover photograph Selahattin Giz Image of boy: Family photograph of Orhan Pamut Back cover and inside cover photograph Ara G ler Author photograph Matthias Zelninger