The writer Sarah Bernstein has been longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize for her second novel, Study For Obedience. The bold and unsettling novel, published in July, explores themes of prejudice, guilt and criminality from the perspective of the unnamed Jewish narrator.

Bernstein, who is Jewish and whose grandparents came from Eastern Europe and who lost family members in the Holocaust, explores the complicated question of where she comes from through the book’s narrator.

Born in Montreal, 36-year-old Bernstein lives in the Scottish Highlands, and is a lecturer in modern and contemporary literature at Strathclyde University.

The prestigious Booker Prize recognizes pieces of fiction from around the world. The selection was made from 163 books published between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023, which were submitted to the Booker Prize Foundation by publishers.