First published July 2023

Summary

Anisa, a Pakistani woman who has been living in London for 20 years, longs to become a real translator of serious literature. When she learns from her boyfriend about this very elite, exceptionally private, and seriously expensive language school that requires an invitation, she demands and invitation from her boyfriend and signs up for it. However, she chafes at the structure of the school from the start – especially the fact that there are no phones or laptops allowed. There’s also no communication permitted between students. With encouragement from her guide, she manages to hang on and after two weeks she is fluent in German, and her dream of translating “serious” German literature becomes true. 

However, there is something about the Centre that continues to draw her back to it. She returns to learn Russian, but again, can’t get past her social media addiction and in trying to sneak a look at her emails, she discovers something that feels sinister. 

 My Thoughts

I really liked this book! It was thought-provoking, sometimes funny, sometimes dark, and always hard to put down. 

Anisa and her best friend, Naima, were well-rounded, complex, interesting characters, but neither of them was perfect. The writing was compelling and the pacing was excellent. There were some twists I absolutely didn’t see coming.

I confess I didn’t understand Anita’s rising anxiety about the Centre. I felt like she was making a big deal about nothing, so it was hard for me to feel the suspense building. I can think of a dozen perfectly legitimate reasons that a secret she uncovered would have been kept from her. She was prone to meltdowns about not having access to her social media, panicked over nightmares, got homesick after a couple of days away from her apartment so I just thought she was overly sensitive.

The book touches upon issues of racism, feminism, colonialism, friendship, privilege, appropriation, consent and power in relationships. I think this would be a great book for a buddy read or book group!

I listened to the audio version and Balvinder Sopal was an exceptional narrator! I highly recommend it if you enjoy the audio format. 

Reading Challenges

This is my 13th book in my Around The Globe in 193 Books Challenge, and is representing Pakistan. 

About the Author

Ayesha Manazir Saddiqi is an author, editor and translator. She was born in Pakistan and now lives in the UK.