The Anthropologists

The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas explores the lives of Asya and Manu, who are looking at apartments and envisioning their future in a foreign city. Removed from the web of family and its obligations, they ponder what traditions and rituals to establish together.

As they dream about the possibilities of each new listing, Asya, a documentary filmmaker, spends her days gathering footage from the neighbourhood park like an anthropologist, observing local customs and anxious to understand how people really live. "Forget about daily life," chides her grandmother on the phone, "no one cares about that."

Meanwhile, life back in Asya and Manu's respective home countries continues: parents age, grandparents get sick, and nieces and nephews grow up, all just slightly beyond their reach. Yet, they hope the world they're building in their new city is growing too. As they expand the horizons of their lives, they must consider what and whom to hold onto, and what they need to release.

Praise for Aysegül Savas

"Ayşegül Savaş’ White on White is marvellous, as elegant as an opaque sheet of ice that belies the swift and turbulent waters beneath."
—Lauren Groff

"A haunting, irresistible novel. In Agnes, Savaş has created one of the great characters of contemporary literature. I loved this book for its depth and perception, for its beauty and eerie rhythms, but most of all for its wonderfully dream-like spell. It’s breathtaking."
—Brandon Taylor

"Despite the thriller-ish underpinning of the novel and the propulsive unfolding of the relationship at the book’s heart, Savaş’s graceful and intellectual prose is the star of the show here. It makes air-light what might otherwise be a novel ponderous with weighty questions: What is the nature of art? Does it reveal or conceal? What is the nature of human connection? ... Like a prism, this novel brilliantly illuminates the human spectrum of connection and longing."
—Kirkus, STARRED review

"[A] beguiling little novel… Indeed, going out for a stroll is the activity that most resembles the reading of Savaş’s book."
—The New York Times Book Review