From the Nobel Prize winner and one of the great novelists (The Washington Post) comes a stirring exploration of the nature of romance in late 1970s Istanbul.

It is 1975, a perfect spring in Istanbul. Kemal and Sibel, children of two prominent families, are about to become engaged. But when Kemal encounters Fusun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation, he becomes enthralled. And once they violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeoisie. In his pursuit of Fusun over the next eight years, Kemal becomes a compulsive collector of objects that chronicle his lovelorn progress-amassing a museum that is both a map of a society and of his heart.