Lovers of Franz K.

“There’s a Kafkaesque quality to the interrogation…but Kurdish author Sönmez is really interested in the question of who owns literature…The dialogue-led approach makes the book punchy and fast-moving, and brings some surprising twists before the end.” —The Guardian, The Best Recent Translated Fiction

“What begins as a noirish police procedural, complete with sardonic dialogue and cigarette smoke curling beneath fluorescent lights, soon shifts into a story driven by ethical conundrum as much as by the apparatus of suspense…Still, the novella’s intellectual ambition never eclipses its narrative allure. Mr. Sönmez’s prose, gracefully spare in Mr. Hêzil’s translation, evocatively channels Kafka himself.” —Wall Street Journal

“Sönmez…wrestles with fraught questions of loyalty and legacy in this contemplative literary thriller…Sönmez’s sharp thematic layering and concise worldbuilding impress. This is a good bet for mystery readers seeking something off the beaten path.” —Publishers Weekly

“Lovers of Franz K. is a gripping tale of idealism colliding with history and moral uncertainty. It portrays characters scarred by their past as they grapple with unanswerable questions and make startling decisions. Exploring passion, loyalty, and history, Sönmez’s novel will leave you questioning what it truly means to write, to love, and to honor the literary creator versus the creation.” —Ava Homa, author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire

“Did Max Brod commit a crime by not fulfilling Kafka’s last will—to burn all his works? Burhan Sönmez is not a judge. He is only a scribe at the Last Judgment, recording the speeches of the parties. And he does his job brilliantly.” —Mikhail Shishkin, author of Maidenhair

“A gripping tale of youthful single-mindedness and institutionalization…a glass-bottomed boat swirling through the Bosphorus of Kafka’s consciousness and works, glaring into the depths of him, his mercurial shadows and shifting states.” —Lemn Sissay, author of My Name Is Why