My Name Is Red - Orhan Pamuk

A Sultan secretly commissions a cadre of artists to create a great book. But any work of art--an affront to Islam--is dangerous. My Name Is Red is a murder mystery played amidst the perils of religious repression.

A New York Times Notable Book. nAt once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers. nThe Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm.

• Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style

But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn't know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery-or crime?

-lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power. n nTranslated from the Turkish by Erda M G knarn