Shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize. A dark and surreal literary thriller following an adrift
Pakistani translator in London who attends a mysterious language school. It boasts complete
fluency in just ten days but at a secret sinister cost . . . ' Black Mirror take on the
world of language' - The Observer 'Absolutely stunning . . . thrilling and unique' - Gillian
Flynn 'Creepy provocative and wildly entertaining' - Emma Stonex 'A thrillingly ambitious
literary chiller' - The Guardian Anisa Ellahi longs to become a translator of 'great works of
literature' but right now she is stuck in her London flat writing subtitles for Bollywood
films. Then she is told about the Centre an elite invite-only programme that guarantees
complete fluency in any language in just ten days. Seduced by all that it could make possible
Anisa enrols. But the Centre's services come at a disturbing hidden cost. Still - it's worth it
right? After all success comes at a price . . . By turns dark funny and surreal The Centre
by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi takes you on a journey through Karachi London and New Delhi.
Throughout it interrogates the sticky politics of language translation and appropriation and
asks: what price would you be willing to pay for success?
