A Mulher Ruiva by Orhan Pamuk

A young apprentice in a provincial town learns the ancient craft of well-digging from a gruff master and forms a fraught father–son bond; when both become entangled with a striking red-haired woman, rivalry and desire fracture their relationship, propelling the narrator into guilt, exile, and long reflections on fate, storytelling, and the uneasy meeting of myth and modern life.