Orhan Pamuk's second novel is set in a seaside town in the months before the 1980 military coup in Turkey. Written in 1983 and translated in English only a few years ago, "Silent House" is ostensibly about an old woman visited by her grandchildren during one summer, but there is an undercurrent of political and cultural tension. Pamuk's technique of having the novel's chapters narrated from the point of view of alternating characters is highly effective. Recommended.