Book excerpt: The compelling and original debut novel from the Costa Prize-shortlisted author of Confession with Blue Horses. Swimming for his life towards traffickers on the Italian shore, Selim enters a world where Kurdish refugees disguise themselves as tomatoes, dates of birth are a matter of opinion, and a residency permit is a ticket to paradise. When he ends up in a small town in Germany, Selim believes he is finally safe, until the law catches up with him and the clock starts ticking. Selim realises there is only one way to avoid deportation... Fifteen years later, in a town hall in Paris, a Registrar receives an unsettling book: 'The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages' fuels her suspicions surrounding an impending Kurdish wedding. She embarks on an investigation that will bring her uncomfortably close to an old acquaintance. Written with real imaginative flair, heart and humour, The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages introduces an unlikely hero who'll prove impossible to forget, and a prodigious new talent in Sophie Hardach.