Palatul Puricilor

Palatul Puricilor tells of life in a rundown house in Istanbul. The house holds a set of flats on Cabal Street. A Russian couple who moved there built it around the mid-1900s. It once had charm and bore the name Palatul Bomboană. Now rubbish and pests fill it. This decay gave it the nickname used as the book’s title.

Elif Shafak’s novel takes its form from One Thousand and One Nights. The main tale splits into many funny tales with twists. The odd mix of people in the house links them. Celal and Cemal both work as hairdressers. Tijen Igienă cannot stop thinking about cleaning. A family with quick tempers lives under a curse about noses. A lovely but sad mistress lives there too.

The house stands for Istanbul, where old and new meet. Its lost beauty and dirt show the city’s stark contrasts. Those who live there bring the city’s many cultures together.