Time Shelter: Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023

Georgi Gospodinov, Angela Rodel

A brilliant, satirical skewering of our obsession with nostalgia and the past, written by a master of European literature.

An unnamed narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to scents, and even afternoon light. But as the rooms become more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic as a ‘time shelter’, hoping to escape the horrors of modern life – a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present.

Intricately crafted, and eloquently translated by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter cements Georgi Gospodinov’s reputation as one of the indispensable writers of our times, and a major voice in international literature. 

This book has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023. Find out more here.

You can find reading guides to the books on the International Booker Prize 2023 shortlist on the International Booker Prize website.

International Booker Prize 2023