Shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize for best work of literary fiction translated into English. On the outskirts of a town thirty miles from Istanbul, a master well-digger and his young apprentice are hired to find water on a barren plain. As they struggle in the summer heat, excavating metre by metre, the two will develop a father/son bond that neither has known before. But in the nearby town, where they spend their evenings, the boy will find an irresistible diversion. The Red-Haired Woman, an alluring member of a travelling theatre group, catches his eye, and she seems as fascinated by him as he is by her. But in his distraction a horrible accident occurs, and he will spend his life unaware of the outcome, or who the Red-Haired Woman was, until many years later.

Vorwort
A gripping tale of love and its consequences, from Turkey's most celebrated novelist

Autorentext
Orhan Pamuk is the author of many celebrated books of fiction, nonfiction, and photography. In 2003 he won the IMPAC prize for My Name is Red, and in 2006 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ekin Oklap was born in Turkey, and grew up in Italy. She translates from Turkish and Italian, and currently lives in London. As a translator, she was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize.

Klappentext
The tenth novel from Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk sees a father/son bond bloom between a welldigger and his apprentice. The apprentice however is distracted by a red-haired woman, causing a terrible accident, the significance of which (and the identities behind which) he will only come to understand further down the line.

Zusammenfassung

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

'Saturated with sympathy and sense of place, the book charts a boy's journey into manhood and Turkey's into irreversible change' Financial Times
**'An ending that makes you immediately start the book all over again.'** The Sunday Times
**'Enchanting.'** Wall Street Journal

'Many years have now gone by, and jealousy compels me to keep her name a secret, even from my readers. But I must provide a full and truthful account of what happened.'

A studious young man spends a summer helping a master well-digger search for water on a barren plain.

As the two struggle in the summer heat, they develop a filial bond neither has known before. In the nearby town where they spend their evenings, a travelling theatre group has come to stay. The young man is fascinated by the Red-Haired Woman, an alluring member of the troupe, and their brief but intense love affair drives everything else from his mind.

But in his distraction, a horrible accident occurs, which will haunt him for thirty years. Until he decides to track down the Red-Haired Woman and finally understand the fallout from that unforgettable summer . . .