S. F. Prescott

Eerie, immersive, and totally addictive!

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi has previously published short stories, reviews, translations, essays, monologues, and poetry. She has also worked as an editor and a playwright. Ayesha was contributing editor for the Serial Productions podcast The Trojan Horse Affair, and has been anthologized by Tilted Axis Press, Peepal Tree Press, Influx Press, EMC, and Oberon Books, and published in The Independent, Ceasefire, The Theatre Times, Wasafiri, and Media Diversified. Her plays and monologues have had rehearsed readings and stagings at venues including the Rich Mix, Theatre503, and the Tristan Bates Theatre in London, and the Impact Hub in Birmingham, and she’s also written for BBC Radio 4. Ayesha is from Karachi and lives in London.

Published July 11th, 2023.

I had zero idea what to expect going in and OMG I was left speechless by the end. On the outside, The Center is a prestigious language school with guaranteed fluency in two weeks. On the inside, its success is owed to something so surreal and wildly imaginative it’s difficult to process.

I loved the eerie clues and cult-like vibes, leading up to the dark twist in the end. The skull shaped plant pot featured on the book’s cover art is mentioned in the lobby entrance to The Center—a nice detail adding to the creep factor. I found the characters unique and well fleshed out. I enjoyed following Anisa, the protagonist, as she explored London, Karachi, and Delhi. Every scene was immersive and kept me hooked, turning the pages late into the night. It’s a story that explores self-identity, love, friendship, with layers of privilege, and appropriation. The chapters were very long—which I usually find off-putting—but it didn’t affect the overall pace for me.

There are two scenes I still can’t shake. The first is between Anisa and her friend’s 60-year old father, while they’re in his office having drinks there was a sexual encounter that I’m still unsure was consensual or not. The second is the gap in Anisa’s memory which finally resurfaces, revealing the truth behind the forbidden doors in The Center while she was snooping around—truly horrific. It gave me serious Jordan Peele vibes and I loved it!

For readers who enjoy macabre twists with a unique voice, compelling female characters, and thought-provoking themes.

Synopsis:

Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of “great works of literature,” but mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood movies and living off her parents’ generous allowance. Adding to her growing sense of inadequacy, her mediocre white boyfriend, Adam, has successfully leveraged his savant-level aptitude for languages into an enviable career. But when Adam learns to speak Urdu practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret.  

Adam begrudgingly tells her about The Centre, an elite, invite-only program that guarantees complete fluency in any language, in just ten days. This sounds, to Anisa, like a step toward the life she’s always wanted. Stripped of her belongings and all contact with the outside world, she enrolls and undergoes The Centre’s strange and rigorous processes. But as Anisa enmeshes herself further within the organization, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the hidden cost of its services.