Most of Orhan Pamuk’s novels take place in the mysterious and beautiful city of Istanbul, which has experienced both its heyday and decline. This duality is reflected in the characters’ personalities, who can’t rid themselves of the influence of the past on their thoughts and actions. “House of Silence” is a novel about a family told through the eyes of different members of the family—each of them lives in their own world, filled with unspoken dreams and anxious reflections about the past. It is one of the author’s most touching and sad works, comparable in craftsmanship to “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez and “Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie.