"(A) masterpiece... (A) honeyed, searching, and melancholy epic... The novel is as much about its setting and colors as about the stories and wonderfully eccentric and varied panoply of characters... One of the zoth century's notable literary love stories and cultural watersheds."

- The Los Angeles Times

"The greatest novel ever written about Istanbıl."

- Orhan Pamuk

"Tanpınar's sweeping literary masterpiece is a love story of his native Turkey and of the flesh... His Iyricism and resonant plot will leave U.S. readers wondering why they've had to wait so long to read this exquisite novel."

- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Every page is full of sharp insights into human nature, delivered with a linguistic confidence that cracks like a whip and varms one from inside with that glow of recognition - the recognition that no matter how far away we think  we might be from one another in time and space, we are all distilled from the very same mixture of passion and compassion, intelligence and foolishness."

- Uğur Akıncı