The Furrow

First published in France to major acclaim, The Furrow follows a French writer living with her lover in an Istanbul caught in the turmoil of Erdoğan’s rule. As the city around her strains under the weight of disorder and conflict, she discovers the story of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist whose life and assassination become a catalyzing force for Turkish resistance writ large and for the narrator’s own writerly ambition. Manteau’s singular rhythm and sinuous prose deliver a novel that stretches the seams of historical memory and personal narrative. As the narrator’s voice disintegrates into the tangled language of her community, Manteau asks us to question who is telling what story and why. At once a feminist reading and fervent defence of democracy, Manteau’s second novel—and first work to appear in English—galvanizes the reader to inhabit the feeling of collective resistance.

Winner of the Prix Renaudot, The Furrow arrives at a critical time in the contemporary zeitgeist, as authoritarianism becomes an ever greater presence across the world and collective action an ever more urgent imperative.