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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2022 A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK
CLUB PICK SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021 A rich,
magical novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38
Seconds in this Strange World - now a top ten Sunday Times
bestseller It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from
opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they
both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is
Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can
meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang
garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. This is where
one can find the best food in town, the best music, the best wine.
But there is something else to the place: it makes one forget, even
if for just a few hours, the world outside and its immoderate
sorrows. In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in
the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy
meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will
be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to
rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart. Decades later in
north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited
the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she
seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The
only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus
Carica growing in the back garden of their home. The Island of
Missing Trees is a rich, magical tale of belonging and identity,
love and trauma, nature, and, finally, renewal. 'This book moved me
to tears . . . in the best way. Powerful and poignant' Reese
Witherspoon 'A brilliant novel -- one that rings with Shafak's
characteristic compassion' Robert Macfarlane 'This is an
enchanting, compassionate and wise novel and storytelling at its
most sublime' Polly Samson
The international bestseller from the author of the
Booker-shortlisted novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange
World, The Forty Rules of Love is part of our Penguin Essentials
series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics *One
of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped the World'* "Every true love
and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are
the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't
loved enough..." Ella Rubinstein has a husband, three teenage
children, and a pleasant home. Everything that should make her
confident and fulfilled. Yet there is an emptiness at the heart of
Ella's life - an emptiness once filled by love. So when Ella reads
a manuscript about the thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi and Shams
of Tabriz, and his forty rules of life and love, her world is
turned upside down. She embarks on a journey to meet the mysterious
author of this work. It is a quest infused with Sufi mysticism and
verse, taking Ella and us into an exotic world where faith and love
are heartbreakingly explored. . . 'The past and present fit
together beautifully in a passionate defence of passion itself' The
Times 'Colourfully woven and beguilingly intelligent' Daily
Telegraph
On a spring evening in Istanbul, Peri is on her way to a dinner
party - a night of luxury a far cry from her upbringing. But when
her handbag is stolen her world shifts violently. She starts to
doubt how she got here: a traumatic Istanbul childhood, student
years in Oxford, the rebellious professor who led her and best
friends Shirin and Mona to question everything - Islam, love, life,
even God - and the scandal that tore them all apart. Over one
desperate night she tries to make sense of a past she has tried to
forget - but can we ever escape who we once were? Shirin, Peri and
Mona, they were the most unlikely of friends. They were the Sinner,
the Believer and the Confused.
The must-read, pocket-sized Big Think book of 2020 It feels like
the world is falling apart. So how do we keep hold of our optimism?
How do we nurture the parts of ourselves that hope, trust and
believe in something better? And how can we stay sane in this world
of division? In this beautifully written and illuminating polemic,
Booker Prize nominee Elif Shafak reflects on our age of pessimism,
when emotions guide and misguide our politics, and misinformation
and fear are the norm. A tender, uplifting plea for optimism,
Shafak draws on her own memories and delves into the power of
stories to reveal how writing can nurture democracy, tolerance and
progress. And in the process, she answers one of the most urgent
questions of our time.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 'Expect vibrant, vivid and
eye-opening descriptions of Middle Eastern life propelled by a
tender storyline, all in Shafak's haunting, beautiful and
considered prose' Vanity Fair 'Incredibly sensuous and poetic and
evocative' Pandora Sykes 'Richly uplifting... truly beautiful
writing' Nicola Sturgeon 'In the first minute following her death,
Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily,
like a tide receding from the shore...' For Leila, each minute
after her death recalls a sensuous memory: spiced goat stew,
sacrificed by her father to celebrate the birth of a yearned-for
son; bubbling vats of lemon and sugar to wax women's legs while men
are at prayer; the cardamom coffee she shares with a handsome
student in the brothel where she works. Each fading memory brings
back the friends she made in her bittersweet life - friends who are
now desperately trying to find her . . . 'Simply magnificent, a
truly captivating work of immense power and beauty, on the essence
of life and its end' Philippe Sands 'Elif Shafak brings into the
written realm what so many others want to leave outside. Spend more
than ten minutes and 38 seconds in this world of the estranged.
Shafak makes a new home for us in words' Colum McCann 'Elif
Shafak's extraordinary 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
is a work of brutal beauty and consummate tenderness' Simon Schama
'A rich, sensual novel... This is a novel that gives voice to the
invisible, the untouchable, the abused and the damaged, weaving
their painful songs into a thing of beauty.' Financial Times 'One
of the best writers in the world today' Hanif Kureishi 'Haunting,
moving, beautifully written. A masterpiece' Peter Frankopan
'Extraordinary' Guardian 'Life-affirming' Stylist *Elif Shafak's
latest novel The Island of Missing Trees is available now*
*The international bestseller from the author of the
Booker-shortlisted novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange
World* * One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World'*
"Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected
transformation. If we are the same person before and after we
loved, that means we haven't loved enough..." Ella Rubinstein has a
husband, three teenage children, and a pleasant home. Everything
that should make her confident and fulfilled. Yet there is an
emptiness at the heart of Ella's life - an emptiness once filled by
love. So when Ella reads a manuscript about the thirteenth-century
Sufi poet Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, and his forty rules of life and
love, her world is turned upside down. She embarks on a journey to
meet the mysterious author of this work. It is a quest infused with
Sufi mysticism and verse, taking Ella and us into an exotic world
where faith and love are heartbreakingly explored. . .
'Enlightening, enthralling. An affecting paean to faith and love'
Metro 'Colourfully woven and beguilingly intelligent' Daily
Telegraph 'The past and present fit together beautifully in a
passionate defence of passion itself' The Times Elif Shafak's
latest novel The Island of Missing Trees is available for pre-order
now
When Jahan travels to 16th-century Istanbul as a stowaway carrying the gift of a white elephant for the sultan, little does he know the journey on which he is about to embark.
As he settles into life in Istanbul, Jahan's fortunes are shaped by chance encounters. In the palace gardens he meets Mihrimah, the beautiful and mischievous princess, and loses his heart in an instant. Later he catches the eye of Grand Architect Sinan, who chooses Jahan as his apprentice and changes the young boy's destiny forever.
Full of magic, colour and societal upheaval in the architectural renaissance of Turkey, this is the sweeping tale of plagues, wars, forbidden romance and the simple love between a boy and his elephant.
Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day,
Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship,
tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a
wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner
party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her
handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the
ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university
professor. A relic from a past - and a love Peri had tried
desperately to forget. The photograph takes Peri back to Oxford
University, as nineteen year old sent abroad for the first time. To
her dazzling, rebellious Professor and his life-changing course on
God. To the house she shares with her two best friends, Shirin and
Mona, and their arguments about identity, Islam and feminism. And
finally, to the scandal that tore them all apart. Shirin, Peri and
Mona, they were the most unlikely of friends. They were the Sinner,
the Believer and the Confused.
A gripping and beautiful novel from Elif Shafak, Booker-shortlisted
author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World One rainy
afternoon in Istanbul, a woman walks into a doctor's surgery. 'I
need to have an abortion', she announces. She is nineteen years old
and unmarried. What happens that afternoon will change her life.
Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in
Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse, all the Kaznci men die
in their early forties, so it is a house of women, among them
Asya's beautiful, rebellious mother Zeliha, who runs a tattoo
parlour; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as clairvoyant; and
Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster. And when
Asya's Armenian-American cousin Armanoush comes to stay, long
hidden family secrets connected with Turkey's turbulent past begin
to emerge. 'Wonderfully magical, incredible, breathtaking...will
have you gasping with disbelief in the last few pages' Sunday
Express 'A beautiful book, the finest I have read about Turkey'
Irish Times 'Heartbreaking...the beauty of Islam pervades Shafak's
book' Vogue Elif Shafak's latest novel The Island of Missing Trees
is available for pre-order now
One rainy afternoon in Istanbul, a woman walks into a doctor's
surgery. 'I need to have an abortion', she announces. She is
nineteen years old and unmarried. What happens that afternoon will
change her life. Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her
extended family in Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse, all
the Kaznci men die in their early forties, so it is a house of
women, among them Asya's beautiful, rebellious mother Zeliha, who
runs a tattoo parlour; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as
clairvoyant; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending
disaster. And when Asya's Armenian-American cousin Armanoush comes
to stay, long hidden family secrets connected with Turkey's
turbulent past begin to emerge. 'Wonderfully magical, incredible,
breathtaking...will have you gasping with disbelief in the last few
pages' Sunday Express 'A beautiful book, the finest I have read
about Turkey' Irish Times 'Heartbreaking...the beauty of Islam
pervades Shafak's book' Vogue
After lengthy planning, the new public library in Oslo was
completed and opened in summer 2020. Located opposite the Opera
House and the Munch Museum, the imposing building fits into the
ensemble in the new cultural quarter of the Norwegian capital. The
project by Lund Hagem Architects and Studio Oslo emerged from an
international architectural competition and is characterized by a
radical interpretation of the library as a vivid place to meet and
spend time with an impressive multimedia offering in an unobtrusive
inviting environment. The publication documents in detail the
planning and building process from the first draft to the opening.
Essays by the novelist Elif Shafak and the library's long-time
director Liv Saeteren explain the significance of the institution
as an integrative social force. Nikolaus Hirsch pays tribute to the
building from the perspective of architectural criticism. Iwan Baan
and Helene Binet capture the architecture and atmosphere of the
shining crystal in their photographs.
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The Quarter (Hardcover)
Naguib Mahfouz; Translated by Roger Allen; Foreword by Elif Shafak
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R340
R279
Discovery Miles 2 790
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Meet the people of Cairo's Gamaliya quarter. There is Nabqa, son of
Adam the waterseller who can only speak truths; the beautiful and
talented Tawhida who does not age with time; Ali Zaidan, the
gambler, late to love; and Boss Saqr who stashes his money above
the bath. A neighbourhood of demons, dancing and sweet halva, the
quarter keeps quiet vigil over the secrets of all who live there.
This collection by pre-eminent Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz was
recently discovered among his old papers. Found with a slip of
paper titled `for publishing 1994', they are published here for the
first time. Resplendent with Mahfouz's delicate and poignant
observations of everyday happenings, these lively stories take the
reader deep into the beating heart of Cairo.
When "The Bastard of Istanbul" was published in Turkey, Elif Shafak
was accused by nationalist lawyers of insulting Turkish identity.
The charges were later dropped, and now readers in America can
discover for themselves this bold and powerful tale. Populated with
vibrant characters, "The Bastard of Istanbul" is the story of two
families, one Turkish and one Armenian American, and their struggle
to forge their unique identities against the backdrop of Turkeyas
violent history. Filled with humor and understanding, this
exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the
tension between the need to examine the past and the desire to
erase it.
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Honour (Paperback, Ed)
Elif Shafak
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R313
R256
Discovery Miles 2 560
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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From Booker-shortlisted author Elif Shafak, Honour is a gripping
tale of love, betrayal and clashing cultures. 'My mother died
twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten'
Pembe and Adem Toprak leave Turkey for London. There they make new
lives for their family. Yet the traditions and beliefs of their
home come with them - carried in the blood of their children,
Iskender and Esma. Trapped by past mistakes, the Toprak children
find their lives torn apart and transformed by a brutal and
chilling crime. Set in Turkey and London in the 1970s, Honour
explores pain and loss, loyalty and betrayal, the clash of
tradition and modernity, as well as the love and heartbreak that
can tear any family apart. 'One of the best writers in the world
today' Hanif Kureishi 'Vivid storytelling... that explores the
darkest aspects of faith and love' Sunday Telegraph Elif Shafak's
latest novel The Island of Missing Trees is available for pre-order
now
A colorful, magical tale set during the height of the Ottoman
Empire, from the acclaimed author of The Island of Missing Trees (a
Reese's Book Club Pick) Chosen for Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's
"Reading Room" Book Club In this novel, Turkey's preeminent female
writer spins an epic tale spanning nearly a century in the life of
the Ottoman Empire. In 1540, twelve-year-old Jahan arrives in
Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan's menagerie, he looks
after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and
falls for) the sultan's beautiful daughter, Princess Mihrimah. A
palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire's chief
architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with
Chota's help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history.
Yet even as they build Sinan's triumphant masterpieces-the
incredible Suleymaniye and Selimiye mosques-dangerous undercurrents
begin to emerge, with jealousy erupting among Sinan's four
apprentices. A memorable story of artistic freedom, creativity, and
the clash between science and fundamentalism, Shafak's intricate
novel brims with vibrant characters, intriguing adventure, and the
lavish backdrop of the Ottoman court, where love and loyalty are no
match for raw power.
A mesmerizing tale of love-from the author of "The Bastard of
Istanbul"
Elif Shafak, the most widely read female writer in Turkey, has
earned a growing fan base all over the world with her bestselling
"The Bastard of Istanbul." In "The Forty Rules of Love," her
lyrical, imaginative new novel about the famous Sufi mystic Rumi,
Shafak effortlessly blends East and West, past and present, to
create a dramatic, compelling, and exuberant tale about how love
works in the world. Shafak unfolds two parallel narratives-one set
in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual
mentor, the wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz, and one
contemporary, as an unhappy American housewife, inspired by Rumi's
message of love, finds the courage to transform her life.
From award-winning writer Elif Shafak, the Orange Prize long-listed
author of The Forty Rules of Love and The Architect's Apprentice,
The Gaze is a humorous and carnivalesque exploration of what it
means to look and be looked at... An obese woman and her lover, a
dwarf, are sick of being stared at wherever they go and so decide
to reverse roles. The man goes out wearing make-up and the woman
draws a moustache on her face. This elegant, unforgettable novel
explores our desire to look at others. 'Beautifully evoked' The
Times 'Original and compelling' TLS
Black Milk is the affecting and beautifully written memoir on
motherhood and writing by Turkey's bestselling female writer Elif
Shafak, author of Honour, The Gaze and The Bastard of Istanbul
which was long-listed for the Orange prize. Postpartum depression
affects millions of new mothers every year, and- like most of its
victims- Elif Shafak never expected to be one of them. But after
the birth of her first child in 2006, the internationally
bestselling Turkish author remembers how "for the first time my
adult life . . . words wouldn't speak to me". As her despair
finally eased, Shafak sought to resuscitate her writing life by
chronicling her own experiences. In her intimate memoir, she
reveals how she struggled to overcome her depression and how
literature provided the salvation she so desperately needed. 'An
intimate, affecting memoir . . . Her passion for literature is
contagious, and her struggle with postpartum depression and
writer's block reinforces how carefully all of us must tread.
Beautifully rendered, Shafak's Black Milk is an epic poem to women
everywhere' Colleen Mondor
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Honour (Paperback)
Elif Shafak
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R279
R227
Discovery Miles 2 270
Save R52 (19%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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From Booker-shortlisted author Elif Shafak, Honour is a gripping
tale of love, betrayal and clashing cultures. 'My mother died
twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten'
Pembe and Adem Toprak leave Turkey for London. There they make new
lives for their family. Yet the traditions and beliefs of their
home come with them - carried in the blood of their children,
Iskender and Esma. Trapped by past mistakes, the Toprak children
find their lives torn apart and transformed by a brutal and
chilling crime. Set in Turkey and London in the 1970s, Honour
explores pain and loss, loyalty and betrayal, the clash of
tradition and modernity, as well as the love and heartbreak that
can tear any family apart. 'One of the best writers in the world
today' Hanif Kureishi 'Vivid storytelling... that explores the
darkest aspects of faith and love' Sunday Telegraph
Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love
affairs of wartime Egypt in Durrell's epic modern classic,
introduced by bestselling author Elif Shafak (The Forty Rules of
Love). An expat schoolteacher has spent years in exile reflecting
on his turmoiled love affair with Justine, a glamorous Egyptian
wife. Returning to wartime Alexandria, he finds that his old
friends have suffered dramatic changes of body, mind, and fortune -
and someone whom he has never really known wishes to see him. His
affair with Clea, a bisexual artist, not only changes the lovers,
but transforms the dead, forever - and heralds a new beginning,
just as Lawrence Durrell's intoxicating masterpiece ends. 'Durrell
has written about a dozen real love stories, entwined them, and
explored them with a truly Proustian ferocity ... Superb.' Observer
'Lushly beautiful ... His style glows ... One of the most important
works of our time.' New York Times Book Review 'It is hard now to
recapture the impact half a century ago of these novels' heat,
luxuriance and profanity [or] his descriptions of Alexandria - its
beauty, cruelty, menace, mystery, decadence ....' Spectator
A thoughtful and incisive meditation on literature, motherhood, and
spiritual wellbeing from the author of The Island of Missing Trees
(a Reese's Book Club Pick) After the birth of her first child, Elif
Shafak experienced a profound personal crisis. Plagued by guilt,
anxiety, and bewilderment about her new maternal role, the
acclaimed novelist stopped writing for the first time in her life.
As she plummeted into post-partum depression, Shafak looked to the
experiences of other prominent female writers-including Sylvia
Plath, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, and Alice Walker-for
help navigating the conflict between motherhood and artistic
creation in a male-dominated society. Searingly honest, eloquent,
and unexpectedly humorous, Black Milk will be widely embraced by
writers, academics, and anyone who has undergone the identity
crisis engendered by being a mother.
This is the story of one lost poem, two great rivers, and three
remarkable lives – all connected by a single drop of water.
In the ruins of Nineveh, that ancient city of Mesopotamia, there lies
hidden in the sand fragments of a long-forgotten poem, the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
In Victorian London, an extraordinary child is born at the edge of the
dirt-black Thames. Arthur’s only chance of escaping poverty is his
brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a
printing press, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, with one
book soon sending him across the seas: Nineveh and Its Remains.
In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the River Tigris, waits
to be baptised with water brought from the holy sit of Lalish in Iraq.
The ceremony is cruelly interrupted, and soon Narin and her grandmother
must journey across war-torn lands in the hope of reaching the sacred
valley of their people.
In 2018 London, broken-hearted Zaleekhah, a hydrologist, moves to a
houseboat on the Thames to escape the wreckage of her marriage.
Zaleekhah foresees a life drained of all love and meaning – until an
unexpected connection to her homeland changes everything.
A dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our
time, Elif Shafak’s There are Rivers in the Sky is a rich, sweeping
novel that spans centuries, continents and cultures, entwined by
rivers, rains, and waterdrops:
‘Water remembers. It is humans who forget.’
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