10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World [Paperback]

Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize *Named a Best Book of the Year byBookpage, NPR, Washington Post,andThe Economist

A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer Elif Shafak, author ofThe Island of Missing Trees, a Reese's Book Club pick.

In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating but her brain is still active-for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep soundly nearby, she remembers her life-and the lives of others, outcasts like her.

Tequila Leila's memories bring us back to her childhood in the provinces, a highly oppressive milieu with religion and traditions, shaped by a polygamous family with two mothers and an increasingly authoritarian father. Escaping to Istanbul, Leila makes her way into the sordid industry of sex trafficking, finding a home in the city's historic Street of Brothels. This is a dark, violent world, but Leila is tough and open to beauty, light, and the essential bonds of friendship.

In Tequila Leila's death, the secrets and wonders of modern Istanbul come to life, painted vividly by the captivating tales of how Leila came to know and be loved by her friends. As her epic journey to the afterlife comes to an end, it is her chosen family who brings her story to a buoyant and breathtaking conclusion.

A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak.Elif Shafakis an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels, including her latestThe Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Costa Award, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women's Prize for Fiction. She is a bestselling author in many countries around the world and her l£.