Selin arrives at Harvard College for orientation week as a new first-generation Turkish-American freshman.

Selin enrolls in Russian as a fifth class and is assigned the name Sonya by the instructor.

Svetlana, a Serbian international student, befriends Selin and the two begin spending time together outside of class.

Selin and Ivan are regularly paired to act out dialogues from the Nina in Siberia textbook.

Selin sends Ivan an email mimicking the Nina in Siberia story and Ivan replies, beginning their correspondence.

Selin confesses her feelings for Ivan in an email while he is visiting graduate schools in California.

Ivan admits he has a girlfriend but says Selin's words inspire him and he wants her friendship.

Selin and Ivan begin meeting in person and spend long hours walking around campus and listening to music.

Ivan invites Selin to go swimming but unexpectedly introduces her to his girlfriend just before they leave on his motorcycle.

Svetlana asks Selin at the last minute to join a Paris trip after one of the original travelers cancels.

Selin realizes a short-haired man at the New York airport is Ivan and they end up sharing a flight to Paris.

Ivan takes Selin on a picnic with his Budapest friends and later introduces her to his mother and sisters.

Selin and Ivan spend hours kayaking together on a river before Ivan's imminent departure for Japan.

Ivan drives Selin back to summer camp and the two say their final goodbye in the parking lot.

Selin grows physically ill from heartbreak during her family vacation in Turkey but eventually recovers.

Selin arrives at Harvard as a first-generation Turkish-American freshman, navigating orientation and an unexpected fifth course in Russian. In Russian class she is regularly paired with Ivan, a Hungarian math senior, and eventually sends him an email inspired by their textbook story, beginning an intense correspondence. Their relationship deepens in spring when they begin meeting in person, but Ivan's revelation of a girlfriend and his inconsistent behavior leave Selin hurt and confused. Despite this, Selin agrees to travel to Hungary to teach English in a village, hoping to spend more time with him. In Budapest they share meaningful moments — a picnic, meeting his family, a kayak trip — but their relationship never becomes romantic. After a final goodbye, Selin travels to Turkey, grows physically ill from heartbreak, and gradually begins to recover.

The headline arc of Selin's freshman year and her unrequited love for Ivan.

Angela claims the single bedroom by arriving at the dormitory suite before her suitemates.

Selin is rejected from a prestigious faculty seminar after being told she is creative but not academically inclined.

Selin fails her orchestra audition, deeply upsetting her since playing violin was her way of belonging to something larger.

A visiting artist accepts Selin into the Constructed Worlds seminar after being won over by her personal essay.

Selin reconnects with Ralph on campus, a well-behaved friend she met at a summer academic program for high schoolers.

Selin's shuttle is involved in a minor accident while she is returning from a frustrating math tutoring session.

Selin insists on switching from math tutoring to teaching ESL after deciding her math efforts are useless.

Selin completes her final art project, a story about a family stuck in a pink hotel room in Japan.

Selin visits her father, stepmother, and young half-brother in Florida during Thanksgiving break.

Selin tutors an older Black woman whose teenage son has recently died, helping her understand abstract math concepts.

Selin's short story is selected as one of three finalists in the university literary magazine's undergraduate fiction contest.

Ivan introduces Selin to Peter, a Hungarian-American Harvard student who runs an English-teaching volunteer program in Hungary.

Svetlana's aunt Bojana arranges an expensive Parisian makeover for Svetlana while making critical comments about her weight.

Selin cannot find her driver at the Istanbul airport and buys a phone token from a helpful stranger to make calls.

Selin and her mother visit a relative's newly purchased swampy golf resort, whose absurdity reawakens Selin's sense of humor.

Beyond her fixation on Ivan, Selin's freshman year is filled with smaller but formative experiences that reveal her character and values. She navigates dorm dynamics, fails to break into elite campus activities, and finds an unexpected creative home in an art seminar. Her ESL volunteer work brings frustrating encounters that test her idealism, while holiday visits remind her of the family life she left behind. In spring she achieves a quiet literary success with her short story, meets other young women navigating similar feelings, and commits to spending the summer in Hungary. The summer itself includes a vivid detour through Paris with Svetlana's glamorous and critical aunt, before Selin reunites with her Turkish family and a visit to a ridiculous golf resort reawakens her dormant humor.

The supporting experiences and smaller encounters that shape Selin's year.

Selin's European literature professor focuses on economic history rather than philosophical meaning, disappointing her expectations of the class.

The art class visits the Museum of Natural History's storage room at the artist's insistence and finds only objects needing repair.

Hannah encourages Selin to submit her completed story to the university literary magazine's undergraduate fiction contest.

Selin spends winter break at her mother's house in New Jersey feeling unhappy and dispirited because of Ivan's infrequent emails.

Selin tutors an older Hispanic man in an improvised pidgin English but feels like a failure when he stops attending after eye surgery.

A school psychologist warns Selin that her internet correspondent might not be real and dismisses her feelings as freshman insecurity.

Ivan casually mentions to Selin that the girlfriend he previously admitted to is now his ex-girlfriend.

Ivan takes Selin to a loud bar where she reluctantly drinks several beers to avoid seeming uptight.

Selin attends a literary magazine reception and meets Lakshmi, an editor who is also nursing unrequited feelings for a senior student.

Ivan sends Selin a final email urging her to stop being spontaneous, directly contradicting his earlier encouragement.

Selin sends Ivan a deliberately hurtful reply, believing it will permanently end their relationship.

Selin and Svetlana spot a man at the New York airport who closely resembles Ivan but has much shorter hair.

Selin considers calling Ivan the night before departing for her assigned Hungarian village but decides against it.

Ivan and Selin stay up late at his Budapest home for a final honest conversation before he leaves for Japan.

Selin feels sudden physical attraction to a Russian businessman while resting on a floating platform in Antalya, desiring a stranger for the first time.

This pool traces the inner turning points that shape Selin from the first weeks of college through the end of summer. Early academic disillusionment — a literature class focused on economics, a museum trip yielding only broken objects — sets a tone of unmet expectations, while a winter break spent pining over infrequent emails deepens her obsession with Ivan. Spring brings a cascade of revelations: a skeptical psychologist, a reluctant bar outing, a jarring shift in Ivan's messages, and a hurtful final exchange that Selin believes ends everything. The summer in Europe brings subtler but equally significant moments — spotting Ivan at the airport before knowing it is him, choosing not to call him on the eve of her departure for the village, and sharing one final honest conversation in Budapest. The pool closes with Selin on a floating platform in Turkey, feeling physical attraction to a stranger for the first time, a quiet sign that she is beginning to move forward.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that define Selin's journey.

Elif Batuman

Novel

Fiction

Guide