My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk

My Name is Red is a Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novel by Orhan Pamuk, which portrays miniaturists in the Ottoman Empire of 1591.

Summary of the Book

When the Sultan commissions a group of miniaturists to create a grand book celebrating the glories of his realm, he sets them a strange task. He orders them to illuminate the work in the European style so that no one may perceive it as an affront to Islam and its disdain for figurative art. The project must be kept a secret from the ruling elite, for to mock the tenets of Islam is to invite death itself. However, one of the miniaturists disappears and panic erupts among the rest. They need to delve into their work itself to find the clues that will give them the answers they seek. This is a deeply profound book about the importance of art and its relationship with religion, love, sex and power.

About Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist and screenwriter. He is the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature and his work has been translated into several different languages around the world. Some of his other novels are: The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, Snow and The Museum of Innocence.

My Name is Red won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in 2002, the Premio Grinzane Cavour in 2002 and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2003.