International bestseller Elif Shafak is a truly global author: a writer without boundaries. The Turkish novelist, academic and journalist was born in France, raised in Spain and for the last nine years has lived mostly in England. Nine novels, written in her third language (English), including 2010’s number one bestseller Forty Rules of Love, blend love, mysticism, faith, politics, history and social injustice into fluid, immersive multi-layered narratives that are readable and full of warmth. She has 1.74 million Twitter followers, is translated into forty languages and uses her celebrity to speak out on behalf of people whose voices may not be heard.
Her newest novel, Three Daughters of Eve, will be published in the UK at the beginning of February and if there is such a thing as a novel for our times, it is this one. ‘It’s what women are talking about in different parts of the world, and particularly the Muslim world,’ says Elif. It features three women: Shirin, Mona and Peri, each caught up in a dilemma of belief and identity. Elif labels them the Sinner, the Believer and the Confused. ‘Shirin is an atheist. Mona wears a headscarf and is a practicing Muslim, and Peri has a lot of questions.’