Ayşegül Savaş joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “An Abduction,” by Tessa Hadley, which was published in The New Yorker in 2012. Savaş has published three novels, “Walking on the Ceiling,” “White on White,” and “The Anthropologists,” and one nonfiction book, “The Wilderness,” an essay and memoir about the first forty days of motherhood. A collection of stories, “Long Distance,” will come out in 2025. She has been publishing fiction in The New Yorker since 2019.
This is the New Yorker Fiction podcast from the New Yorker magazine.
I'm Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at the New Yorker.
Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and discuss.
This month we're going to hear An Abduction by Tessa Hadley, which appeared in the New Yorker in July of 2012.
It didn't occur to Jane that the car would stop for her.
She watched it hungrily, sifting the silky dust between her toes.
Daniel, the driver Jane saw at once, was the best looking of the three.
In fact, he was crushingly beautiful.
The story was chosen by Aishigul Savage, who's the author of three novels, including White on White and the Anthropologist.
A nonfiction book, the Wilderness, was published earlier this year.
Hi, Isogul.
Hello, Deborah.
So welcome to the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
When we talked about this, the first two stories you really settled on were both by Tessa Hadley.
So I'm interested to hear why that is what makes her work really important to you.
Tessa Hadley is a writer.
I read when I was trying out becoming a writer, and I was trying out different voices, and she's a writer.
I still read.
She's one of these writers.