Madonna in a Fur Coat (Penguin Modern Classics)

Her dark eyes were lost in thought, absently staring into the distance, drawing on a last wisp of hope as she searched for something that she was almost certain she would never find.

A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade in 1920s Berlin. The city’s crowded streets, thriving arts scene, passionate politics and seedy cabarets provide the backdrop for a chance meeting with a woman, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the unfathomable nature of the human soul.

Sabahattin Ali was born in 1907 in the Ottoman town of Egridere (now Ardino in southern Bulgaria) and was killed on the Bulgarian border in 1948 as he attempted to leave Turkey. A teacher, writer, and journalist, he owned and edited a popular weekly newspaper called Marko Pasa and was imprisoned twice for his political views.

‘The magical novel about a Turkish man who falls in love with an artist in 1920s Berlin … recreates a vanished era and dramatises a doomed relationship with verve, depth and poignancy. The result is a miniature masterpiece’
– The National

‘Moving and memorable, full of yearning and melancholy’
– The Times

‘A tale of young love and disenchantment, of missed opportunities and passion’s elusive, flickering flame’
– Financial Times

‘The surprise bestseller … read, loved and wept over by men and women of all ages’
– Guardian