The New Life

The New Life (Turkish: Yeni Hayat, 1994) is a novel by the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, translated into English by Güneli Gün in 1997. Its protagonist, Osman, is a young engineering student in Istanbul who discovers a "new life" in the pages of a book of the same name. Osman finds other readers equally consumed by the work, as well as people who seek to destroy it because of the effect it has on its followers.

The book that gives the novel its title is never quoted: readers can only guess at its nature from the actions of the protagonist and of other obsessed readers. Pamuk began writing the novel while suffering from insomnia caused by jet lag after a long flight. The title is borrowed from Dante Alighieri's work The New Life.

The reception was largely negative, with many reviewers and readers finding it incomprehensible. Gabriel Josipovici called it "unreadable" in The Independent. Nevertheless, at the time of its release it became the fastest-selling book in Turkish history.