Burhan Sönmez’s novel, ‘North’, is the story of a young man whose father leaves when the protagonist is two years old, and returns twenty years later as a corpse. In his attempts to resolve the mystery of his father’s death, our hero embarks on a journey to the North in search of his father’s identity, which at times becomes his own. Eastern folk tales and legends have been woven into the story, which questions and reflects the nature of reality. It uses the theories of eastern and western thinkers to explore the existential questions that run throughout the novel.

It is approximately 120,000 words in length. The North recounts the myths and legends of the East in a realistic fashion, and is based around philosophical debates on existence and love which play central role in solving the mystery.

‘North’ is currently being translated into English.

PASSAGES FROM NORTH