'Destined to become a classic' Reader's Digest; 'A profoundly moving story about the transformative power of words in times of desperation' Ece Temelkuran, author of The Insane and the Melancholy; 'A harrowing, riveting novel, as unforgettable as it is inescapable.' Dale Peck, author of Visions and Revisions; 'A wrenching love poem to Istanbul told between torture sessions by four prisoners in their cell beneath the city. An ode to pain in which Dostoevsky meets The Decameron.' John Ralston Saul, author of On Equilibrium; former president, PEN International; 'Ten days, ten stories and ten chapters, like Boccaccio's Decameron ... This novel will, I predict, itself become a classic.' Rosie Goldsmith; `With his parable-like novel, Soenmez strides across the entire spectrum of inhumane suffering and human powers of resistance. ... This is a uniquely intense and shocking novel of a kind seldom found on the contemporary publishing landscape. Scintillating, relentless and with a humanity that will resonate for a long time to come.' Qantara; 'Sonmez has created in Istanbul Istanbul a measured classic,' The Wire