In 16th-century Istanbul, miniaturist and illuminator Enishte Effendi is commissioned to secretly illustrate a book for the Sultan in the Frankish style, and when one of the workshop's master miniaturists is found murdered, the narration passes between multiple voices — including the corpse, the murderer, Enishte's daughter Shekure, her suitor Black, and the miniaturists Master Osman, Butterfly, Stork, and Olive — as they piece together who among the illustrators is the killer.
Books mentioned in My Name Is Red (8)
Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by Ferdowsi: “Alexander cradling the dying Darius from Firdusi's Book of Kings…”
Gulistan (The Rosegarden) by Saadi: “...the account of the teacher who falls in love with his handsome student from Sadi's Rosegarden…”
Masnavi by Rumi: “"A cheap rendition of the terrible account of the cuckold who catches his wife and her lover in a pear tree, from Rumi's Masnawi," he said.”
Gifts of Intimacy by Jami: “In Lami'i Chelebi's Turkish translation of the Persian poet Jami's Gifts of Intimacy, which addresses the stories of the saints...”
The Revival of Religious Science by Al-Ghazali: “...I'd appropriated these ominous images from the section on the ills of marriage in Gazzali's The Revival of Religious Science...”
Khusrau and Shirin by Nizami Ganjavi: “...the renowned master Sheikh Ali Tabrizi had illustrated a magnificent version of Hüsrev and Shirin.”
Layla and Majnun by Nizami Ganjavi: “...he entered the library like a common thief, opened the volume of Leyla and Mejnun...”