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Where to start reading Elif Shafak’s books

Stuck with what to read from the British-Turkish novelist's backlist? Here's our handy guide.

Books by Elif Shafak on a colourful background.
Image credit: Ryan MacEachern/Penguin

Elif Shafak has tackled everything from Turkish history to Sufi poets and honour killings in her work, which has encompassed 18 books.

The author holds a PhD in political science and has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She’s has given global TED talks on the politics of fiction and the revolutionary power of diverse thought.

Shafak writes in both Turkish and English, and has authored novels and non-fiction, so it might be confusing to know where to start with her books, especially ahead of her forthcoming novel The Island of Missing Trees. Luckily, we have you covered with our guide... 

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