10 Minutes, 38 Seconds In This Strange World

"Shortlist"

"Like Evaristo’s book, in this novel, you get this sense of knowing a whole bunch of people who are this weirdly close-knit and beautiful group of friends. It’s about Istanbul in all its wealth and diversity, but it’s also about rape and trauma, exploitation and violence. And it’s about a life that resonates beautifully. I’m intrigued by the fact that this is a second or third language; she seems to have absolute control of the poetry, and at the same time the ability to conjure characters who, in a way, absolutely don’t feel at all like characters. They feel like people. It’s a great trick of fiction, and she does it beautifully. Absolutely. We have the great luxury of a book a week rather than a book a day! We’ll meet on October 14th and we’ll talk through until we’ve come up with the winner, at the very last minute. We decide on the day, and I have no idea who’s going to win. Literally no idea. It could go anywhere, any which way, under a variety of different circumstances. We’ll see!"

"The clock starts ticking the moment you begin Elif Shafak’s gripping novel. That’s because there are only 10 minutes and 38 seconds left before the protagonist’s brain shuts down. Leila, a sex worker, has been murdered and left in a dumpster. Through flashbacks to her life in modern-day Turkey, minute by minute, you’ll feel her wonder, her joy, her pain. You’ll feel empathy for a girl whose life is upended from the day she is born. It’s companionship with other Istanbul transplants that saves Leila from complete despair. And as you get to know Leila’s other friends on the margins of society, you find yourself rooting for them in the unlikeliest of endeavors."