SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019Expect vibrant vivid and eyeopening descriptions of Middle Eastern life propelled by a tender storyline all in Shafaks haunting beautiful and considered prose Vanity FairIncredibly sensuous and poetic and evocative Pandora SykesRichly uplifting... truly beautiful writing Nicola SturgeonIn the first minute following her death Tequila Leilas 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 yearnedfor son bubbling vats of lemon and sugar to wax womens 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 SandsElif 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 Shafaks extraordinary 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World is a work of brutal beauty and consummate tenderness Simon SchamaA 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 TimesOne of the best writers in the world today Hanif Kureishi Haunting moving beautifully written. A masterpiece Peter Frankopan Extraordinary GuardianLifeaffirming Stylist ELIF SHAFAKS NEW NOVEL THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY IS AVAILABLE NOW