Omer, an agnostic Turk; Abed, a pious Muslim Moroccan; and Piyu, a guilt-wracked Catholic Spaniard, are housemates studying for various degrees at a Boston university. Omer falls in love with Zarpandit, an American with an inexplicable urge to kill herself. Through their conversations over dinner and their encounters in their one hard-pressed bathroom, the characters challenge each other s views on religion, politics, nationality and gender. Zarpandit, the American, feels the most alienated of all.

Mr Pamuk was educated in English at an elite Istanbul private school; Ms Shafak was born in France and raised in Spain. Their books are as much a voyage of discovery for themselves as they are insiders insights of Turkey. Both seek to shatter stereotypes. Unlike Mr Pamuk, though, Ms Shafak does it with ironic humour and warmth. In one of the funniest scenes in her latest book, Abed s newly arrived (and devoutly Muslim) mother offers “round platters of sugar skulls” and “trays of werewolf claws” to inebriated guests at a Halloween party.

 Ms Shafak is well set to challenge Mr Pamuk as Turkey s foremost contemporary novelist.