The Red-Haired Woman. Orhan Pamuk

On the outskirts of a town thirty miles outside of Istanbul, a master well-digger and his young apprentice are hired to search for water on a barren plain. As they struggle through the summer heat, digging unsuccessfully foot after foot of earth, a filial bond will develop between them that they have never known before — neither the poor middle-aged bachelor nor the middle-class boy whose father has disappeared after being arrested for political subversion. The pair will depend on each other and swap stories that reflect different worldviews. But in a nearby town, where they shop for groceries and spend their evening vacations, the boy will find irresistible distraction. A red-haired woman, an attractive member of a traveling theater troupe, catches his eye and seems as enchanted by him as he is by her. The boy’s wildest dream will come true, but when a terrible accident happens to the well in his madness, the boy runs away, returning to Istanbul. Only years later will he learn whether he is really guilty of his master’s death and who the red-haired sorceress was.