{"product_id":"the-renovation-9780241745786","title":"The Renovation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA 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.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780241745786\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 23 Jun 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.3(H)x15.3(L)x2(W)312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 312\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eKenan Orhan is a writer based in Kansas. His first story collection, I Am My Country, was a finalist for the PEN\/Robert W. Bingham Prize in 2024. His first novel, The Renovation, was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2026. 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.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eI love this book — it’s a book club host’s dream.\u003c\/b\u003e I was electrified by the conceit… I felt like I was falling through a series of trap doors. I call these ‘Trojan horse books’: zany top level, really deep interior, with a bunch of surprises * New York Times Book Review (MJ Franklin on The Book Club Podcast) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLyrical, Kafka-esque... The premise is inventive, the symbolism astute, the prose clean and neat and frequently beautiful... \u003c\/b\u003eLeaving your homeland, we discover, is a series of constant losses * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA superb first novel, impressive on every level... \u003c\/b\u003eAt once an urgent allegory about what it is to live in exile, it’s equally a powerful, visceral and heartbreakingly uncompromising portrait of dementia * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI mean, I loved this book. The first name that comes to mind for me is Kafka… \u003c\/b\u003eI did not see [the ending] coming, but after I read it and put the book down, I realized that was the only way it could end * New York Times Book Review (Dave Kim on The Book Club Podcast) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA haunting meditation on memory and displacement\u003c\/b\u003e that reconsiders the meaning of liberation * New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003eAddictive and chilling, yet so sensitive, so beautifully told – \u003cb\u003elike Kafka by way of Pedro Almodóvar – I couldn’t put it down and I didn’t want it to end. \u003c\/b\u003eKenan Orhan is a truly gifted writer, drawing us down into a tunnel of memory and madness -- Avni Doshi, author of 'Burnt Sugar'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTruly original, this debut novel grips from start to finish\u003c\/b\u003e * Elle *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA surreal novel of migration and memory [which] follows Orhan’s celebrated 2023 story collection\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSurreal, mysterious, engrossing... \u003c\/b\u003eA domestic drama shaped by the political turbulence of the Erdogan era * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eElegant, propulsive and wholly original\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Renovation\u003c\/i\u003e is a profound meditation on familial duties, memory, displacement and the devastating longing for a home that exists solely in the past. \u003cb\u003eIt will stay with me for a long time\u003c\/b\u003e -- Cecile Pin, author of 'Wandering Souls'","brand":"Kenan Orhan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49180370469081,"sku":"9780241745786","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780241745786.jpg?v=1788354523","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-renovation-9780241745786","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}