Having visited Turkey this year and fallen for the charm of Istanbul, I started to read Museum of Innocence because of the picture of the Blue Mosque on the cover of the book.

The story is one of obsession. Kemal, a member of the priviledged class becomes engaged to Sibel a beautiful 'modern' young woman but he cannot stop his physical and mental pursuit of Fusan, a shopgirl.

Oran Pamuk beautifully weaves the theme of Kemal's obsessive behaviour with an insight into Turkish social conventions of the time and images of differing parts of the magnificent city of Istanbul.

The book appears to be drawn out in places and I sometimes lacked sympathy for Kemal's selfish behaviour but the author's use of language to create the complete story kept me reading.

The ending is rather predictable and worthy of a Hollywood film however the book is still a good holiday read.