The Centre follows Anisa, who is in her mid-late thirties and adrift in life, when someone tells her about an almost magical Centre that will cause her to learn a new language in just 10 days. We follow Anisa as she goes through the Centre and afterwards, as she continues to feel adrift and tries to figure out what the Centre is, and what new friendships she's formed outside of it mean. 

It's hard to see this as anything but a mid-life crisis with a lightly speculative/weird element to it. Lightly sad girl lit fic, but I didn't hate it. I found it compelling, and a lot of the work that Siddiqi does in terms of discussing racism and classism feels woven deftly into the story. 

I would caution against anyone looking for some sort of twisty thriller here. This is a steady character driven story with an interesting mystery at the heart of it. It was compelling and kept me moving along, with straightforward writing that at times dipped into the lyrical in a way that felt natural and not overwrought. 

Really nicely done and I enjoyed it for what it was doing.