The gaze (Penguin Books)

From award-winning writer Elif Shafak, the Orange Prize long-listed author of The Forty Rules of Love and The Architect's Apprentice, The Gaze is a humorous and carnivalesque exploration of what it means to look and be looked at...An obese woman and her lover, a dwarf, are sick of being stared at wherever they go and so decide to reverse roles.

The man goes out wearing make-up and the woman draws a moustache on her face. This elegant, unforgettable novel explores our desire to look at others. "Beautifully evoked." (The Times). "Original and compelling." (TLS).

Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of nine novels including The Bastard of Istanbul, The Forty Rules of Love and Honour, and is the most widely read female writer in Turkey. Her work has been translated into more than forty languages and she contributes to numerous international publications, including the New York Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Newsweek and Time magazine.

She is also a public speaker working with The London Speaker Bureau and is a TED Global speaker.Elif Shafak has previously been longlisted for the Orange Prize, the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

She is based in London with her two children.