Snow

Orhan Pamuk · b. 1952 · Turkey

Originally Kar (Turkish) · translated by Maureen Freely

Why it matters

A poet returns from exile to snowbound Kars, where headscarf politics, a theater coup, and love close over him in three days. The great novel of secularism and faith colliding, more timely every year.

At a glance

Dense political argument and a framed, self-referential narrator complicate an otherwise linear plot.