Murat Isik

It is the summer of 2001, Metin Mutlu moves to San Francisco to study International Criminal Law. He is determined to leave his old self behind as he enters this new world; rather than a shy observer, he wants to be a confident, self-possessed man. A few weeks after his arrival, on Metin’s twenty-fourth birthday, two planes crash into the World Trade Center in New York City.

Metin feels suffocated by the idea of spending his life as an attorney, so he throws himself into his outside course: Creative Writing. There, he meets the mysterious Joan Springfield—a brilliant but troubled student he instantly falls head over heels for.

Metin’s new, free life seems to be going well for him, but then unpleasant developments in both San Francisco and his family make him view his time in the city very differently. In de mist van Golden Gate Park is a dazzling new novel by Murat Isik. It’s an epic tale about the search for freedom and autonomy, finding a great love, becoming a writer, and insurmountable familial bonds.

Murat Isik (1977) won the 2018 Libris Literature Award and the Booksellers Award with his novel Wees onzichtbaar (Be invisible; 2017). This title, which was also named Book of the Year 2017 by prominent newspaper NRC, has sold over 200,000 copies to date. Isik’s debut novel, Verloren grond (Lost ground; 2012), was awarded the Bronze Owl Public Award. His work has been translated into German, Swedish and Turkish. In 2019, he authored the Book Week essay Mijn moeders strijd (My mother’s battle).