I have heard so much about this author, but this is the first novel I have read by her, and I am not disappointed. It is a great story set in a strange world. Shafak has managed to take the ordinary and sad stories of five of Tequila Leila’s friends and turn them into a magnificent tale.

It is said that when you die, your life passes before you just before death comes. In this story, however, it is a matter of 10 minutes and 38 seconds, during which brain activity still exists. For each of these minutes, we get a glimpse into Leila’s life, her family, and her friends.

Although the chapters are short, each gives us an important part of her life: her memories, both good and bad, and the friends who made her life worth living.

“PElif erhaps her home was not where she was born but where she chose to die”

Leila’s story

The story begins with Leila’s death. We are told that her body has been abandoned in a rubbish bin in Istanbul. From here, her story unfolds, taking us back to her childhood in Van, Turkey, where she grows up in a conservative, religious family, surrounded by the expectations and restrictions placed, above all, on the women in the family.

When she can no longer take it, she runs away to Istanbul, hoping for a better life. Instead, circumstances lead her to become a sex worker under the name Tequila Leila.

“Sometimes where you feel most safe is where you least belong.”

In spite of everything, she finds something in Istanbul that was missing from her family life: friendship and a sense of belonging. Her new friends become close, and the group sticks together, helping one another whenever needed. Each comes from a different background and, in some way, is an outsider.

• Sabotage Sinan: Leila’s oldest childhood friend, who finds her again in Istanbul.

• Nostalgia Nalan: A brave transgender woman who escaped an unwanted marriage.

• Hollywood Humeyra: A nightclub singer hiding from an abusive partner.

• Zaynab122: A short woman who faces discrimination because of her height.

• Jameelah: A Somali refugee and part of their tight-knit group of outcasts.

Through Leila’s memories, relationships, and work, we get a glimpse of the political and social realities of Istanbul: violence against women, poverty, discrimination, migration, religion, and, above all, the way society marginalises people who do not fit into conventional ideas of how life should be lived. This is not only true of Istanbul, but perhaps of societies everywhere.

Leila’s death

Even after her death, Leila is mistreated because of the life she lived. Her family does not want to arrange her burial, and her friends are not allowed to bury her. She is destined for the Cemetery of the Abandoned, where her grave is marked only by a number.

“What was love if it wasn’t nursing someone else’s pain as if it were your own?”

Her friends refuse to accept the restrictions placed on them by society and come up with a plan to give Leila a proper burial. In doing so, they gain a sense of freedom: the freedom to exercise some control over their own lives and to honour the friend they loved.

“Nostalgia Nalan believed there were two families in this world: relatives formed blood family; and friends, the water family.If your blood family happened to be nice and caring, you could count your lucky stars and make the most of it; and if not, there was still hope; things could take a turn for the better once you are old enough to leave your home sour home.As for the water family, this was formed much later in life and was, to a large extent, of your own making. While it was true that nothing could take the place of a loving, happy blood family, in the absence of one, a good water family could wash away the hurt and pain collected inside like black soot. It is therefore possible for your friends to have a treasured place in your heart, and occupy a bigger space than all your kin combined. But those who had never experienced what it felt like to be spurned by their own relatives would not understand this truth in a million years. They would never know that there were times when water ran thicker than blood.”

The novel argues that a person’s life is more than their social standing or society’s judgment of them. The cruel fate is that, even in death, the circumstances of your life can continue to define you. Even if Leila did not leave a mark on society during her lifetime, she lives on through the memories of her friends.

A remarkable book, with beautiful prose. The characters tell the story, and although it sometimes feels as though we are only glimpsing fragments of their lives, they become so vivid that they stay with you long after you have finished the book.

“In the desert of life, the fool travels alone and the wise by caravan.”