LA ESPERADA NUEVA NOVELA DE ELIF SHAFAK,
CON 300.000 LECTORES Y TRADUCIDA EN
CINCUENTA PAÍSES

«Elif Shafak puede ser despiadada, lírica, política, íntima. [...] Dentro de esta novela conviven otras tantas, todas ellas conmovedoras, espléndidas y escritas con elegancia.».-Juan Gabriel Vásquez

El cerebro permanece activo unos diez minutos después de que el corazón deje de latir. Durante ese lapso, mientras el cuerpo de Leila yace en un contenedor de basura a las afueras de Estambul, el tiempo fluye y, minuto a minuto, le trae un nuevo recuerdo: la infancia con su padre y sus dos madres en una casa grande y antigua de una apacible ciudad de Turquía; los chismorreos de las mujeres cuando los hombres están en la mezquita; la huida a Estambul para escapar de los abusos y las mentiras familiares y de un matrimonio concertado; el amor hallado de manera inesperada en el burdel de Mamá Amarga. y los cinco amigos que hace en el camino "su verdadera familia" y que, mientras agoniza, tratan desesperadamente de encontrarla.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize
Named a Best Book of the Year by Bookpage, NPR, Washington Post, and The Economist

A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak.

In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness. Her heart has stopped beating but her brain is still active―for 10 minutes 38 seconds. While the Turkish sun rises and her friends sleep soundly nearby, she remembers her life―and the lives of others, outcasts like her.

Tequila Leila's memories bring us back to her childhood in the provinces, a highly oppressive milieu with religion and traditions, shaped by a polygamous family with two mothers and an increasingly authoritarian father. Escaping to Istanbul, Leila makes her way into the sordid industry of sex trafficking, finding a home in the city's historic Street of Brothels. This is a dark, violent world, but Leila is tough and open to beauty, light, and the essential bonds of friendship.

In Tequila Leila's death, the secrets and wonders of modern Istanbul come to life, painted vividly by the captivating tales of how Leila came to know and be loved by her friends. As her epic journey to the afterlife comes to an end, it is her chosen family who brings her story to a buoyant and breathtaking conclusion.