The Renovation

Longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize

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.