Nights of Plague

Review A masterpiece of evocation, it conjures up its imaginary island with superb fullness and immediacy. . . it's as a magnificent panorama of the last days of the Ottoman Empire that this outstanding addition to Pamuk's fictional surveys of Turkishness will enthrallingly endure. ― Sunday Times 'A historical novel that will resonate with us all still recovering/reeling from the Covid pandemic... A tale of spies, conspiracy and murder, which is full of vivid characters... [A] sparkling imagining of an island at the centre of one of life's catastrophes.' -- Independent May just be the best thing you read this year. A very knowing novel by an author at the height of his powers. ― The Oldie How cleverly Pamuk has combined true facts with imagined scenes, and how persuasively and patiently he has plotted the course of a nationalist revolution. -- Andrew Motion ― TLS 'One of the most interesting books I've read this year . . . a compendium of literary experiments, ludic, audacious, exasperating and entertaining.' ― Guardian The most distinctive pandemic novel yet. ― Daily Mail How cleverly Pamuk has combined true facts with imagined scenes, and how persuasively and patiently he has plotted the course of a nationalist revolution... familiar as these things might be from previous books by Pamuk, they are presented here on an impressively large canvas. -- Andrew Motion ― TLS Engaging to the end. ― Press Association The latest offering from Turkey's Nobel laureate is a historical murder mystery set in 1901, in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, amid an epidemic of bubonic plague. A wry meditation on nationalism and identity, on history and myth, on science and superstition, delivered with Orhan Pamuk's trademark storytelling flair. ― Financial Times, Best. Books of the Year Product Description 'Orhan Pamuk is the sort of writer for whom the Nobel Prize was invented.' Daily Telegraph 'Pamuk is the real thing.' Observer 'One of the world's finest living writers.' Independent 'Essential reading for our times.' Margaret Atwood 'Everyone should read Pamuk.' New Statesman Plague is not the only killer -- an historical epic of murder and mystery, myth-making and nation-building, from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1901. Night draws in. With the stealth of a spy vessel, the royal ship Aziziye approaches the famous vistas of Mingheria. 'An emerald built of pink stone'. The 29th state of the ailing Ottoman Empire. The ship carries Princess Pakize, the daughter of a deposed sultan, her doctor husband, and the Royal Chemist, Bonkowski Pasha. Each of them holds a separate mission. Not all of them will survive the weeks ahead. Because Mingheria is on the cusp of catastrophe. There are rumours of plague - rumours some in power will try to suppress. But plague is not the only killer. Soon, the eyes of the world will turn to this ancient island, where the future of a fragile empire is at stake, in an epic and playful mystery of passion, fear, scandal and murder, from one of history's master storytellers. Book Description Plague is not the only killer -- an historical epic of murder and mystery, myth-making and nation-building, from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. From the Back Cover 1901. Night draws in. With the stealth of a spy vessel, the royal ship Azizye approaches the famous vistas of Mingheria. 'An emerald build of pink stone'. The 29th state of the ailing Ottoman Empire. The ship carries Princess Pakize, the daughter of a deposed sultan, her doctor husband, and the Royal Chemist, Bonkowski Pasha. Each of them holds a separate mission. Not all of them will survive the weeks ahead. Because Mingheria is on the cusp of catastrophe. There are rumours of plague - rumours some in power will try to suppress. But plague is not the only killer. Soon, the eyes of the world will turn to this ancient island, where the future of a fragile empire is at stake, in an epic and playful mystery of passion,