Orhan Pamuk

Awaiting the arrival of her grandchildren in her home outside Istanbul, bed-ridden widow Fatma shares memories and grievances with her late husband's illegitimate son until his cousin, a right-wing nationalist, involves the family in the Turkish military coup of 1980.

Revisiting his own family's secrets and idiosyncracies, Orhan Pamuk guides the reader through some of Istanbul's monuments and lost paradises, discovering what made his family typical of their time and place.