The Centre: A Novel

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year • A New York Times Editors' Choice • An Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense“The most fascinating debut I've read in years―enigmatic, biting, absurd, and right when you think you've got it figured out, utterly horrifying.” ―Daniel Kraus, New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall and The Shape of Water (with Guillermo del Toro)“A gripping, surreal mystery about language, identity, and greed.” ―Peng Shepherd, bestselling author of The Cartographers“The Centre draws you in with a gentle hand until it throws the mallet down.” ―Chelsea G.

Summers, author of A Certain Hunger“The Centre is as haunting as it is tempting; this book devoured me back.” ―Sarah Gailey, author of Just Like Home and Eat the RichIn this “dazzling” speculative debut, a London-based Pakistani translator furthers her stalled career by attending a mysterious language school that boasts near-instant fluency―but at a secret, sinister cost (Gillian Flynn)Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of “great works of literature,” but mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood movies and living off her parents’ generous allowance.

Adding to her growing sense of inadequacy, her mediocre white boyfriend, Adam, has successfully leveraged his savant-level aptitude for languages into an enviable career.