In One Brief Moment All Eternity | Elif Shafak

The new novel from the Booker-shortlisted, internationally bestselling author.

During a time of great turmoil, Gustave Flaubert created literature's most scandalous heroine: Madame Bovary. He then poisoned her with arsenic.

But what if, 175 years later, Emma - and the women history overlooked - could seize the quill from his hands and tell a different story?

In One Brief Moment All Eternity is a luminous reinvention of an iconic male writer, told through the eyes of the women - real and fictional - who shaped him: a devoted nursemaid, an Egyptian dancer and a passionate, jealous lover who refuses to be forgotten. Through their voices, visionary author Elif Shafak creates both an intimate portrait of a great artist and an epic meditation on storytelling itself: who gets remembered, who gets erased, and how can literature endure through political upheaval, war and injustice? When the world feels broken, how do we find the hope to carry on?

Shafak takes readers on an extraordinary journey through time and space, from Flaubert's unusual childhood in a house that was part home, part hospital, part morgue, to nineteenth-century Paris during the Revolution, and onwards to Istanbul, Cairo, Palestine and Beirut.

In this exhilarating tale, the questions at the heart of her work take on a thrilling new urgency: who gets to speak, and what would the silenced have said? Boldly inventive, transporting and illuminating, spanning decades and continents, In One Brief Moment All Eternity is a dazzling love letter to literature, untold stories, neglected communities and the enduring spirit of humanity.

Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won't regret it * ARUNDHATI ROY *A unique and powerful voice in world literature * IAN MCEWAN *One of the best writers in the world today * HANIF KUREISHI *One of the world's most exhilirating storytellers * OBSERVER *Shafak's imagination is a wonder: bold, capacious, beautiful and wise * KATIE KITAMURA *Shafak's writing is poised and expressed, remarkable for its charm and lyricism * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Elif Shafak approaches the world with grace, lyricism, and courage * VIET THANH NGUYEN *Elif Shafak ties together diverse time periods and places in a way that seems both natural and wonderfully unexpected * MARY BEARD *Elif Shafak is a master storyteller * SAFIYA SINCLAIR *One of our most evocative storytellers working today * iPAPER *

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-seven languages. The author of twenty books, fourteen of which are novels, she was awarded the Halld r Laxness Prize for her contribution to the art of storytelling. Shafak's previous novel, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, was the UK's bestselling literary hardback novel of 2025, selling over 500,000 copies. Widely read in many countries around the world, her writing has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women's Prize for Fiction, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, and Prix Femina Etranger, amongst others, and she was nominated for 'Author of the Year' at the British Book Awards. Elif Shafak was appointed President of the Royal Society of Literature in 2025. She was awarded the British Academy President's medal for bravely tackling sensitive subjects and for her body of work which demonstrates an incredible intercultural range.