Galip is a lawyer living in Istanbul. His wife, the detective novel-loving Ruya, has disappeared. Could she have left him for her ex-husband, CelΓ’l, a popular newspaper columnist? But CelΓ’l, too, seems to have vanished. As Galip investigates, he finds himself assuming the enviable CelΓ’l 's identity, wearing his clothes, answering his phone calls, even writing his columns. Galip pursues every conceivable clue, but the nature of the mystery keeps changing, and when he receives a death threat, he begins to fear the worst.
With its cascade of beguiling stories about Istanbul, The Black Book is a brilliantly unconventional mystery, and a provocative meditation on identity. For Turkish literary readers it is the cherished cult novel in which Orhan Pamuk found his original voice, but it has largely been neglected by English-language readers. Now, in Maureen Freelyβs beautiful new translation, they, too, may encounter all its riches.
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Charlie Rose - January 24, 2008 All Things Considered - October 12, 2006
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