“The Anthropologists is yet another gorgeous, gorgeous book from Aysegül Savas: she is an author who simply, and astoundingly, knows. [...] The Anthropologists is both a bright light and a map for how to be. A massively heartening achievement.” ―Bryan Washington

Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. What should their life here look like? What rituals will structure their days? Whom can they consider family? As the young couple dreams about the possibilities of each new listing, Asya, a documentarian, gathers footage from the neighbourhood like an anthropologist observing local customs. “Forget about daily life,” chides her grandmother on the phone. “We named you for a whole continent and you're filming a park.”

Back in their home countries parents age, grandparents get sick, nieces and nephews grow up-all just slightly out of reach. But Asya and Manu's new world is growing, too, they hope. As they open the horizons of their lives, what and whom will they hold onto, and what will they need to release? Unfolding over a series of apartment viewings, late-night conversations, last rounds of drinks and lazy breakfasts, The Anthropologists is a soulful examination of homebuilding and modern love, written with Aysegül Savas' distinctive elegance, warmth, and humour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ayşegül Savaş is a Turkish writer who writes in English. She grew up in London, Copenhagen, and Istanbul. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Granta, among others. She lives in Paris. Among authors who have influenced her, she names Patrick Modiano, and Enrique Vila-Matas.

She is the author of Walking on the Ceiling (2019) and White on White (2021). Her third novel, The Anthropologists (2024), was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was one of Barack Obama's favourite books of 2024, a New York Times editor's choice, one of the best books of the year by the New Yorker, TIME Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, and #1 book of 2024 according to Vulture (New York magazine).