This is a love story between a German-Jewish woman from Czechoslovakia, Maria Punder, and a Turkish Muslim man, Raif Effendi. Two people from different countries, different continents, different cultures.

In this story, the woman takes the initiative, decides, imposes, and leads the relationship, while the man follows. The place and time of their meeting is Berlin during the interwar period.

The Madonna in the Fur Coat is the most important work of Sabahatttin Ali, a Turkish writer who was hunted and imprisoned for his political ideas. The (semi-autobiographical) novel was first published in the early 1940s, without achieving notable success.

After the author's murder under unclear circumstances in 1948, there was a surge in sales of the book, which continued to sell successfully until 1965. Afterward, it fell into obscurity, and it took about forty years for it to resurface.

In 2013, it was reissued in Turkey, rekindling public interest, and soon became a bestseller, while being translated into many languages, causing a wave of enthusiastic publications internationally.

It has been noted that "The Madonna rejects the traditional male and female roles that the country's president supports at every opportunity. The novel is a response to this coercion and gives hope to the young that it is possible to fall in love and live as one wishes..."