Set in Istanbul during the early Republic, the novel follows an introspective man whose unfulfilled loves and recollections of the past unfold against a city in transition; through his quiet longing, encounters with others, and frequent reveries the narrative meditates on time, memory, identity and the elusive pursuit of inner peace amid the social and cultural upheavals of modern life, rendered in lyrical, elegiac prose.

Set in the 12th century, it follows a resourceful Breton youth who journeys from war-torn Europe to Moorish Spain and the Islamic world in a perilous quest to free his enslaved father. Navigating shipwrecks, mines, courts, and caravan routes, he grows into a scholar, merchant, and swordsman, finding allies and lovers while outwitting rivals and tyrants. The adventure celebrates curiosity, courage, and the power of learning across cultures.

A Harvard symbologist awakens in a Florentine hospital with no memory and finds himself thrust into a frantic international chase after a reclusive scientist obsessed with Dante, following a trail of art, architecture and cryptic puzzles drawn from the Divine Comedy; aided by a young physician, he races through Florence, Venice and Istanbul to decipher clues and stop a plot to release a bioengineered agent intended to address catastrophic population growth, all while confronting fraught ethical questions about sacrifice, security and the value of human life.