My Name Is Red
Orhan Pamuk sets this novel in Istanbul in 1591, where a group of master miniaturists is secretly producing an illustrated book for the Sultan in a style influenced by European painting, a project that some consider blasphemous. When one of the artists is found murdered, the search for the killer becomes the spine of a story told through many voices, including the victim, the suspects, a coin, the color red, and even a dog. Pamuk weaves a love story between Black, who returns to Istanbul after years away, and Shekure, alongside debates about art, faith, and the tension between Eastern and Western ways of seeing. The English translation by Erdag Goknar won the 2003 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and Pamuk later won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
What you might want to know about My Name Is Red
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In sixteenth century Istanbul, the murder of a miniaturist working on a secret book draws together love, art, and a hunt for the killer.
The book uses many narrators, including the characters, the murder victim, and inanimate objects like a coin and a color, each speaking a chapter.
Yes. Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, and My Name Is Red is among his most celebrated novels.
My Name Is Red was written by Orhan Pamuk, published in 2001 by Alfred A. Knopf.
My Name Is Red is 417 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, My Name Is Red takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
My Name Is Red is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.