The Renovation

Dilara is having her bathroom renovated. Her father's memory is 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 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 father, keep the family finances afloat and stop the wheels coming off her marriage, she is drawn back again and again to the mysterious prison cell, and through it to a city that once belonged to her - to the salt wind off the Marmara, the sky full of gulls and domes and minarets - back to Istanbul.