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Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and world literature

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world

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Book at Bedtime: Reading Europe - Turkey: The Red-Haired Woman

Paul Hilton

Orhan Pamuk

Ekin Oklap

Jill Waters

Isobel Creed

Book at Bedtime: Reading Europe - Turkey: The Red-Haired Woman: Episode 3

Reading Europe - Turkey: The Red-Haired Woman

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, Reading Europe - Turkey: The Red-Haired Woman, Episode 3

Used to listening to the master's stories, Cem is surprised when he is invited to speak.

Istanbul in the 1980s, and Cem recalls his enjoyment of Mahmut's stories but was surprised when one evening he was asked to take a turn and tell a story of his own.

The Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk explores the complex layers of father-son relationships through the apparently simple story of a young man apprenticed to a welldigger on the outskirts of Istanbul.

With this vivid image of digging towards the centre of the earth at the heart of the story, he brings together eastern and western myths and legends to look at what is really meant by authority and rebellion. Can anyone ever escape their fate? 

Cem Çelik is a "little gentleman", the son of a leftist Istanbul pharmacist whose politics take precedence over parenthood. During one of his father's lengthy and regular disappearances, 16 year-old Cem gives up his holiday job guarding his uncle's orchard and apprentices himself to a master well-digger, Mahmut. They set about digging a well to provide water for a local businessman's factory.

The novel turns on Cem's encounter with the red-haired woman of the title and a subsequent act by the well that stains the rest of his life.

As Cem accepts the warm but irascible Mahmut as a surrogate father, and Mahmut slowly begins to regard Cem with a fatherly affection, the storytelling begins. First Cem listens intently to Mahmut's tales, then is himself invited to speak. Myth and folklore pervade the novel, and throw the events of Cem's life into sharp focus against the backdrop of contemporary Istanbul.


Written by Orhan Pamuk
Translated by Ekin Oklap
Read by Paul Hilton
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Producer: Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Orhan Pamuk tells the apparently simple story of well-diggers on the outskirts of Istanbul

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk explores father-son relationships through the story of a young man apprenticed to a well-digger on the outskirts of Istanbul. Read by Paul Hilton.

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