From the Nobel Prize winner & best-selling author of Snow & My Name Is Red a fable of fathers & sons & the desires that come between them On the outskirts of a town thirty miles from Istanbul a master well digger & his young apprentice are hired to find water on a barren plain As they struggle in the summer heat excavating meter by meter the two will develop a filial bond neither has known before -not the poor middle-aged bachelor nor the middle-class boy whose father disappeared after being arrested for politically subversive activities The pair will come to depend on each other & exchange stories reflecting disparate views of the world But in the nearby town where they buy provisions & take their evening break the boy will find an irresistible diversion The Red-Haired Woman an alluring member of a travelling theatre company catches his eye & seems as fascinated by him as he is by her The young man's wildest dream will be realized but when in his distraction a horrible accident befalls the well digger the boy will flee returning to Istanbul Only years later will he discover whether he was in fact responsible for his master's death & who the redheaded enchantress was