In the city of Mardin, near the Turkish border with Syria, the orphaned Avdo finds a purpose when an old gravestone maker takes him on as an apprentice. From Master Josef, he learns the significance of the art that cares for the dead and bears witness to their lives. Avdo travels as a journeyman through the young country that has just become a republic and meets a woman he loves with all his heart, but he loses her to a tragic crime. He retreats, lonely and desperate, to his workshop in the cemetery, yet even there, life leads him in unexpected directions with all its worries, joys, injustices, and gifts. Bestseller author Burhan Sönmez weaves together not only fragments of Turkish history from the twentieth century but also elements from the Ottoman Empire, the broader Middle East, and Europe to create a multifaceted portrait of modern Turkish society in "Stone and Shadow.".