Zülfü Livaneli is Turkey’s bestselling author, a celebrated composer and film director, and a political activist. Widely considered one of the most important Turkish cultural figures, he is known for his novels that interweave diverse social and historical backgrounds, figures and incidents, including the critically acclaimed BLISS (winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award), LEYLA’S HOUSE, MY BROTHER’S STORY and THE EUNUCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, which have been translated into 37 languages, won numerous international literary prizes, and been turned into movies, stage plays and operas.

Books by Zülfü Livaneli

Serenade for Nadia

written by Zülfü Livaneli, translated by Brendan Freely - Fiction

Istanbul, 2001. Maya Duran is a single mother struggling to balance a demanding job at Istanbul University with the challenges of raising a teenage son. Her worries increase when she is tasked with looking after the enigmatic Maximilian Wagner, an elderly German-born Harvard professor visiting the city at the university's invitation. Although he is distant at first, Maya gradually learns of the tragic circumstances that brought him to Istanbul 60 years before, and the dark realities that continue to haunt him.