The Renovation

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Dilara is renovating her apartment. She wants a brand-new waterfall shower with massage jets; she wants a marble bench and a double vanity unit. But when the renovation is done, she discovers a problem. Where the bathroom should be, the workmen have instead built a Turkish prison cell.

Dilara's family are exiles. They left Turkey many years ago and have never been back. But as the weeks pass, her indignation gives way to curiosity, and she finds herself drawn back again and again to the mysterious cell, and through it to a city that once belonged to her.

A playful and poignant portrait of one family caught in the tides of history.

'A highly inventive debut novel about exile, fear and the ways political trauma follows people across borders' The Times

Author: Kenan Orhan

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2026

Published on 26 Mar 2026 by Hamish Hamilton.