Overview

A modern classic in the making - a heartbreaking portrait of one Turkish family caught in the tides of history, grappling with grief, exile, political oppression, and the painful absurdity of love Dilara is having her bathroom renovated. Her father's memory has started collapsing, dementia stealing a little more of him each day; her apartment must be adapted so he can move in with her. But when the builders finally unveil their handiwork, there is a problem- instead of a new bathroom, they have built a prison cell. Not just any cell - one that Dilara recognises. It is a room from Silivri Prison in Istanbul. At first she is outraged, exasperated, determined to reverse the bizarre mistake. Dilara's family are political exiles- they fled Turkey years ago and have never been back. The last thing she wants is a piece of her abandoned homeland appearing uninvited in her new home. But gradually her indignation gives way to curiosity. Even as she struggles to care for her dying father, to stretch their dwindling savings and stop the wheels coming off her marriage, she is drawn back again and again to the mysterious prison cell, which seems to connect, impossibly, to a city that once belonged to her - to the salt wind off the Marmara, the sky full of gulls and domes and minarets - a portal back to Istanbul.

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Reviews

Truly original, this debut novel grips from start to finish * Elle * A surreal novel of migration and memory [which] follows Orhan’s celebrated 2023 story collection * Guardian * Addictive and chilling, yet so sensitive, so beautifully told – like Kafka by way of Pedro Almodóvar – I couldn’t put it down and I didn’t want it to end. Kenan Orhan is a truly gifted writer, drawing us down into a tunnel of memory and madness -- Avni Doshi, author of 'Burnt Sugar' Elegant, propulsive and wholly original, The Renovation is a profound meditation on familial duties, memory, displacement and the devastating longing for a home that exists solely in the past. It will stay with me for a long time -- Cecile Pin, author of 'Wandering Souls' The Renovation brilliantly describes what it’s like for “elsewhere” to be “here”. An instant entry not just into the canon of migrant literature but into the literature of now -- Isabel Waidner, author of 'Sterling Karat Gold' Written with a slyly comic touch, The Renovation has at its heart an unexpected and powerfully charged emotional space. There are encounters between Dilara and her ageing, exiled father that will stay with me for a long time to come -- Chetna Maroo, author of 'Western Lane' Elegant, disarming, evocative... [An] allegory about family, country, and the failure of memory * Kirkus * Tender [and] astonishing * Booklist *

Addictive and chilling, yet so sensitive, so beautifully told – like Kafka by way of Pedro Almodóvar – I couldn’t put it down and I didn’t want it to end. Kenan Orhan is a truly gifted writer, drawing us down into a tunnel of memory and madness -- Avni Doshi, the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of 'Burnt Sugar' Elegant, propulsive and wholly original, The Renovation is a profound meditation on familial duties, memory, displacement and the devastating longing for a home that exists solely in the past. It will stay with me for a long time -- Cecile Pin, Women’s Prize-nominated author of 'Wandering Souls' The Renovation brilliantly describes what it’s like for “elsewhere” to be “here”. An instant entry not just into the canon of migrant literature but into the literature of now -- Isabel Waidner, Goldsmiths Prize-winning author of 'Sterling Karat Gold'

Author Information

Kenan Orhan is a writer based in Kansas. His 2023 short story collection, I Am My Country, was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and was longlisted for the Story Prize. His fiction appears in the Atlantic, Paris Review, Common and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Best American Short Stories. The Renovation is his first novel.

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