Snow

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Year: 2011
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780571268399
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

A magnificent love story and powerful tale of religious fanaticism, from the internationally bestselling Nobel laureate.

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature


'Not only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading for our times.' Margaret Atwood, The New York Times
'A major work. . . with suspense at every dimpled vortex' John Updike, The New Yorker
'Powerful. . . astonishingly timely' Vogue
'Orhan Pamuk is the sort of writer for whom the Nobel Prize was invented.' Daily Telegraph


An exiled poet returns to the remote city of Kars on the Turkish border to investigate troubling reports of a suicide epidemic among its young women. While there, he reconnects with the beautiful Ipek, and finds himself drawn irresistibly back into their love story.


But Kars has become a touchpoint for religious and political violence and religious extremists are poised to win the local elections. As the snow falls and suspicion mounts, the stage is set for a terrible and desperate act . . .

Table of contents

• Landing Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• A Note on Pronunciation
• 1: The Silence of Snow
• 2: Our City Is a Peaceful Place
• 3: Give Your Vote to God’s Party
• 4: Did You Really Come Here to Report on the Election and the Suicides?
• 5: Excuse Me, Sir
• 6: Love, Religion and Poetry
• 7: ‘Political Islamist’ Is Only a Name That Westerners and Secularists Give Us
• 8: Girls Who Commit Suicide Are Not Even Muslims
• 9: Are You an Atheist?
• 10: What Makes This Poem Beautiful?
• 11: Do They Have a Different God in Europe?
• 12: If God Does Not Exist, Then How Do You Explain All the Suffering of the Poor?
• 13: I’m Not Going to Discuss My Faith with an Atheist
• 14: How Do You Write Poems?
• 15: There’s One Thing We All Want out of Life
• 16: Where God Doesn’t Exist
• 17: My Fatherland or My Headscarf
• 18: Don’t Fire, the Guns Are Loaded!
• 19: How Beautiful, This Falling Snow
• 20: A Great Day for Our Nation!
• 21: But I Don’t Recognise Any of Them
• 22: ‘The People’s Choice’ for the Role of Atatürk
• 23: God Is Just Enough to Know That It’s Not a Question of Reason or Logic but How You Live Your Life
• 24: ‘I, Ka’
• 25: This Is the Only Time We’ll Ever Be Free in Kars
• 26: It Is Not Poverty That Brings People Like Us so Close to God
• 27: Be Strong, My Girl, Help Is on Its Way from Kars
• 28: The Difference between Love and the Agony of Waiting
• 29: It’s Not Just You I’ve Lost
• 30: When Can We Meet Again?
• 31: We’re not Stupid! We’re Just Poor!
• 32: That’s Not Going to Be Possible While I Have Two Souls Inside My Body
• 33: A Godless Man in Kars
• 34: Kadife Would Never Agree to It
• 35: I’m Not Anyone’s Agent
• 36: You’re Not Really Going to Die, Sir, Are You?
• 37: The Only Script We Have This Evening is Kadife’s Hair
• 38: I Didn’t Bring You Here to Upset You
• 39: The Joys of Crying Together
• 40: It Must Be Hard Being a Double Agent
• 41: Every Life Is Like a Snowflake
• 42: I’m Packing My Suitcase
• 43: Women Commit Suicide to Save Their Pride
• 44: No One Here Likes Ka
• About the Author
• By the Same Author
• Copyright