Keen irony and humour amongst the cats and tomb thieves of Istanbul.

The setting is a stately residence in Istanbul built by Russian noble émigré Pavel Antipov for his wife Agripina at the end of the Tsarist reign, now sadly dilapidated, flea-infested, and home to ten families. Shafak uses the narrative structure of A Thousand and One Nights to construct a story-within-a-story narrative. Inhabitants include Ethel, a lapsed Jew in search of true love and the sad and beautiful Blue Mistress whose personal secret provides the novel with an unforgettable denouement. Add to this a strange, intensifying stench whose cause is revealed at the end of the book, and we have a metaphor for the cultural and spiritual decay in the heart of Istanbul.

"An enchanting combination of compassion and cruelty...Elif Shafak is the best author to come out of Turkey in the last decade." Orhan Pamuk

"Once foundations are laid, this novel takes off into a hyper-active, hilarious trip...with farce, passion, mystery and many sidelights on Turkey's past. A cast of wacky flat-dwellers lend it punch and pizazz..." The Independent (UK)

"Ms Shafak is well set to challenge Mr. Pamuk as Turkey's foremost contemporary novelist." The Economist

"Shafak can switch from a picaresque tale of father and son to astute observations of despair and love without pausing." The Guardian (UK)

"An enchanting combination of compassion and cruelty . . . Elif Shafak is the best author to come out of Turkey in the last decade."-Orhan Pamuk

The setting is a stately residence in Istanbul, built by Russian noble migr Pavel Antipov for his wife Agripina at the end of the Tsarist reign-now sadly dilapidated, flea-infested and home to ten families. Shafak uses the structure of A Thousand and One Nightsto construct a story-within-a-story narrative.

Elif Shafak is an outstanding name amongst young Turkish authors. She has written four novels and won the Mevlana Prize for the best work in mystical and transcendental literature. She is in the middle of a residency at the Massachusetts Five College Program in women's studies and resides in Mount Holyoke, USA.

Elif Shafak was born in 1971 in Strasbourg,and spent her teenage years in Spain, before returning to Turkey. She has become an outstanding name amongst young Turkish authors. She has written five novels, and won the Mevlana Prize for the best work in mystical and transcendental literature. She is in the middle of a residency at the Massachusetts 'Five College Program' in Women's Studies, and resides in Mount Holyoke, USA.