What would you do, if you have found the love of your life, except you cannot lay your hands on her for the next eight years?
This is a novel about pathos, romance, and the determination of an iron-willed man. Kemal, 30 years old, meets Fusun, an 18-year old woman, a few weeks before Kemal is to be engaged with Sibel. Kemal discovers that he is madly in love with Fusun, and for the next 44 days (the days leading up to his formal engagement day), they make love every day between 2 and 4 PM in an apartment. As the days go by, they form a bond between the two of them, and Kemal realizes that he cannot live and love any other woman except for Fusun.
However, Kemal gets engaged, and Fusun disappears. From that time on, Kemal spends 8 years, waiting for Fusun to return to him, accumulating little items and tokens that remind him of Fusun along the way.
That was just a short synopsis, and in terms of plot, this is a very simple book. It is roughly divided into three different periods. The first period is between the time Kemal and Fusun meet, up to when Kemal is engaged to Sibel and Fusun disappears because she hates the fact that Kemal went ahead and got engaged to Sibel even though Kemal loves Fusun. This first period lasts 44 days.
The second period lasts for 6 months. This is the period of Fusun's disappearance. Kemal tries to search the whole of Istanbul for her, to no avail. Sibel on the other hand notices that something is wrong with Kemal, and she tries her best to resolve it. However, this is also to no avail, and in the end, Sibel and Kemal breaks up.
The third and longest period is when Fusun reappears, married this time, and Kemal becomes a companion of the couple, Fusun and her husband. Kemal does everything in his power to be with Fusun, expressing his love for her in small means, such as a small stare or a smile. Along the way, he takes little items that Fusun has used or owned, so that he will be reminded of her. A toothbrush, an earring, a saltshaker, and many other little things. This collection of little things altogether make up the Museum of Innocence, the museum that celebrated the love of Kemal to Fusun.
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