Djinns

by Fatma Aydemir

£12.99

For thirty years, Hüseyin has worked in Germany, taking every extra shift and carefully saving, even as he provides for his wife and their four children. Finally, he has set aside enough to buy an apartment back in Istanbul – a new centre for his loved ones and a place for him to retire. But just as this future is in reach, Hüseyin’s tired heart gives up. His family rush to him, travelling from Germany by plane and car, each of his children conflicted as they process their relationship with their parents, and each other.

Reminiscent of Bernardine Evaristo or Zadie Smith, Djinns portrays a family at the end of the 20th century in all its complexity: full of secrets, questions, silence and love.

Translated from German by Jon Cho-Polizzi.

Publication date: 22 October 2024
368p, paperback with flaps, £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-916806-02-3

Press & Reviews

A GUARDIAN BEST NEW NOVEL 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GERMAN BOOK PRIZE 2022
WINNER OF THE ROBERT GERNHARDT PRIZE 2022

‘Sensational. . . . Sometimes you just want a big old family saga to lose yourself in – and there’s none more engrossing this autumn than Djinns.’ –The Guardian

'A majestic novel about the migrant experience in Germany that speaks to us all.' – Ellen Peirson-Hagger, The Financial Times

‘A profoundly moving journey through grief toward freedom.’– Musa Okwonga

'In the hands of bestselling German-Turkish novelist Fatma Aydemir, the family novel is a framework for a heartbreaking, formally experimental examination of identity in which a six-part structure mirrors the divisions diaspora makes between generations. . . .  Djinns is the work of a writer who has hit her artistic stride. . . . [it] Chronicles an important transitional moment in Germany’s self-definition with intelligence and nuance.'—The Baffler

‘How I miss Hüseyin, Emine and their children… I laughed when they laughed, I cried as they cried, and my heart shattered at each new tragic turn. Fatma Aydemir’s beautiful language and devotion to her characters shine throughout and ensure that their voices echo, long after the final chapter ends.' –Sharon Dodua Otoo, author of Ada’s Realm

'I always get suspicious when I see this word on a book cover. How many, really, can there be? But in the case of Djinns – a magnificent, sprawling, gorgeous, many-headed beast, inhabited by a family who, to a soul, feel real and true and frighteningly persuasive – a creation of great beauty, compassion, wisdom and grief – I do not hesitate for a second to use it. Masterpiece.’ – Mia Gallagher, author of Shift

‘Fatma Ayedmir’s voice has a power that goes straight to your heart one minute and straight to the pit of your stomach the next.’
– Alena Schröder

‘Aydemir has a gift for empathising with almost every single one of her characters – it’s hard to tear yourself away.’ – Spiegel Bestseller supplement

‘A stunningly intense and multi-layered novel – a brilliant family epic.’ –Stern

About The Book

Author

Fatma Aydemir was born in Karlsruhe in 1986. She lives in Berlin and is a columnist and editor for the taz newspaper.Her debut novel, Ellbogen, was published by Hanser in 2017, and won the Klaus Michael Kühne Prize and the Franz Hessel Prize. In 2019 she published the anthology Your Homeland is our Nightmare together with Hengameh Yaghoobifarah.

Djinns was awarded the Robert Gernhardt Prize, and shortlisted for the German Book Prize.

Translator

Jon Cho-Polizzi is an educator, activist, and freelance literary translator, and a Collegiate Fellow and Assistant Professor of German at the University of Michigan. Cho-Polizzi received his PhD in German and Medieval Studies from UC Berkeley after studying Translation, History, and Literature in Heidelberg and Santa Cruz. He lives and works between Ann Arbor, Northern California, and Berlin.

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