The Museum of Innocence - set in Istanbul between 1975 and today - tells the story of Kemal, the son of one of Istanbul\047s richest families, and of his obsessive love for a poor and distant relation, the beautiful Fusun, who is a shop-girl in a small boutique. In his romantic pursuit of Fusun over the next eight years, Kemal compulsively amasses a collection of objects that chronicles his lovelorn progress-a museum that is both a map of a society and of his heart. The novel depicts a panoramic view of life in Istanbul as it chronicles this long, obsessive love affair; and Pamuk beautifully captures the identity crisis experienced by Istanbul\047s upper classes that find themselves caught between traditional and westernised ways of being. Orhan Pamuk\047s first novel since winning the Nobel Prize is a stirring love story and exploration of the nature of romance. Pamuk built The Museum of Innocence in the house in which his hero\047s fictional family lived, to display Kemal\047s strange collection of objects associated with Fusun and their relationship. The house opened to the public in 2012 in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul.