Home Fire: WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 - Hardcover

Kamila Shamsie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408886774 ISBN 13: 9781408886779

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 'Elegant and evocative ... A powerful exploration of the clash between society, family and faith in the modern world' Guardian 'There is high, high music in the air at the end of Home Fire' New York Times Isma is free. After years spent raising her twin siblings in the wake of their mother's death, she is finally studying in America, resuming a dream long deferred. But she can't stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London - or their brother, Parvaiz, who's disappeared in pursuit of his own dream: to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. Then Eamonn enters the sisters' lives. Handsome and privileged, he inhabits a London worlds away from theirs. As the son of a powerful British Muslim politician, Eamonn has his own birthright to live up to - or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz's salvation? Two families' fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined in this searing novel that asks: what sacrifices will we make in the name of love? A contemporary reimagining of Sophocles' Antigone, Home Fire is an urgent, fiercely compelling story of loyalties torn apart when love and politics collide - confirming Kamila Shamsie as a master storyteller of our times.

Review:

An Amazon Best Book of August 2017: You don’t need to recall much about Sophocles’ tale of Antigone to be swept up by Kamila Shamsie’s plot-driven and lyrical contemporary retelling. Shamsie, a native of Karachi who has written six previous novels, sets Home Fire among two Pakistani émigré families living in very different communities in London. Isma Pasha, the devout orphaned daughter of a jihadi fighter, has raised her younger sister and brother in the largely Asian neighborhood of Wembly. Eamonn, the son of the British Home Secretary (a secularlized Muslim) has grown up in posh Holland Park. His family has the power to help hers, and their friendship leads inexorably to a dramatic political crisis. The classical antecedents of this story are virtually invisible behind precisely-noticed modern-day details of Twitter trends, tabloid news and text messages. Shifting points of view allow Shamsie to explore the different relationships at stake, from family loyalties to sexual passion, and these intimate connections counterbalance her broader political point. This is a beautifully-written, angry, romantic novel that succeeds in being both timely and timeless. --Sarah Harrison Smith, Amazon Book Review

About the Author:

Kamila Shamsie is the author of six novels: In the City by the Sea (shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize); Salt and Saffron; Kartography (also shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize); Broken Verses; Burnt Shadows (shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction) and, most recently, A God in Every Stone, which was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Three of her novels have received awards from Pakistan's Academy of Letters. Kamila Shamsie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelist in 2013. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London. @kamilashamsie

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1408886774
• ISBN 13: 9781408886779
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 264