Madonna in a Fur Coat

By: Sabahattin Ali, David Selim Sayers - introduction, Maureen Freely - translator, Alexander Dawe - translator

Narrated by: Philip Arditti

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Philip Arditti, best known for The Danish Girl and Game of Thrones. This definitive recording includes an introduction by David Selim Sayers.

'It is, perhaps, easier to dismiss a man whose face gives no indication of an inner life. And what a pity that is: a dash of curiosity is all it takes to stumble upon treasures we never expected.'

A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade in 1920s Berlin. The city's crowded streets, thriving arts scene, passionate politics and seedy cabarets provide the backdrop for a chance meeting with a woman, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the unfathomable nature of the human soul.

'A heart-breaker . . . it has the kind of indefinably powerful impact of The Great Gatsby' Observer

'A miniature masterpiece' The National

'A gorgeously melancholic romance' Irish Times

© Sabahattin Ali 2016 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critic reviews

You think you know yearning ... you think you know the fleeting nature of happiness ... you think you know unrequited love, you think you know lyrical writing ... and then you read Madonna in a Fur Coat (Jack Edwards)

The surprise bestseller ... read, loved and wept over by men and women of all ages

Deeply moving … transformative … a love story that I actually love (Elif Shafak)

A heart-breaker ... it has the kind of indefinably powerful impact of The Great Gatsby

A tale of young love and disenchantment, of missed opportunities and passion's elusive, flickering flame . . . reminiscent of Turgenev's First Love, with a hero every bit as gauche, and a twist every bit as bitter (Toby Lichtig)

The magical novel about a Turkish man who falls in love with an artist in 1920s Berlin ... recreates a vanished era and dramatises a doomed relationship, and does so with verve, depth and poignancy. The result is a miniature masterpiece. (Malcolm Forbes)

A heart-breaker . . . it has the kind of indefinably powerful impact of The Great Gatsby (Salley Vickers)

A poignant coming-of-age tale, drenched in disillusionment. The gap between hope and reality, art and ordinary life, has been explored in many other novels, but rarely with the unaffected simplicity of Madonna in a Fur Coat. (William Armstrong)

Moving and memorable, full of yearning and melancholy ... reading it is like taking a literary minibreak (Fiona Wilson)

A gorgeously melancholic romance . . . a cautionary tale certain to beguile (Eileen Battersby)

Lovely

I really enjoyed the voice and intonation of the narrator. I love a good troubled love story.