The Museum of Innocence Pamuk, Orhan

Orhan Pamuk's luminous masterpiece takes you deep into the heart of Istanbul, where Kemal falls helplessly in love with his distant cousin Füsun. What unfolds is an obsessive, decades-long devotion told through the objects he collects—her earrings, a salt shaker, spent cigarette butts—each one a relic of their encounters. Pamuk actually created a real museum in Istanbul to house these artefacts, blurring the line between fiction and reality in the most extraordinary way. It's a sweeping meditation on memory, desire, and the things we cling to when we can't hold onto the people we love.

Perfect for readers who savour sprawling, melancholic love stories and Turkish literature at its finest.