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Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize *Named a Best Book of the Year by Bookpage, NPR, Washington Post, and The Economist
A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer Elif Shafak, author of The 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.
Published | Oct 13 2020 |
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Format | Paperback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 336 |
ISBN | 9781635575811 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Dimensions | 210 x 140 mm |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Shafak writes with vision, bravery and compassion . . . a stunning portrait of a city, a society, a small community and a single soul.
The New York Times Book Review
Shafak is a master of captivating moments that provide a sprawling and intimate vision of Istanbul . . . Ultimately, “10 Minutes” isn't really about death, but the persistence of love.
The Washington Post
A beautifully written tour de force of exemplary storytelling.
Library Journal (starred review)
Extraordinary . . . a piercing, unflinching look at the trauma women's minds and bodies are subjected to in a social system defined by patriarchal codes.
The Guardian
Ever-courageous Turkish writer Shafak creates another resilient woman protagonist at odds with Turkey's repressive society . . . [A] seductively imaginative, rambunctiously humorous, complexly tragic, and lyrically redemptive tale . . . Shafak's motley and compassionate cast embodies both the brutal consequences of tyranny and the power of individuals to undermine it in a full-tilt novel set in a fabled city, a swirling microcosm of human complexity and paradox.
starred review, Booklist
Gripping . . . Through flashbacks to [the protagonist's] 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.
NPR's Book Concierge
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