Home Fire

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WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
WINNER OF THE LONDON HELLENIC PRIZE

A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN, EVENING STANDAND AND NEW YORK TIMES
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'The book for our times' - Judges of the Women's Prize

'Elegant and evocative ... A powerful exploration of the clash between society, family and faith in the modern world' - Guardian

'Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I've read in a novel this century' - New York Times
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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.
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NOW A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2018
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017



Genre: Literary Fiction

"A good novelist blurs the imaginary line between us and them; Kamila Shamsie is the rare writer who makes one forget there was ever such a thing as a line. Home Fire is a remarkable novel, both timely and necessary." - Rabih Alameddine

"Home Fire left me awestruck, shaken, on the edge of my chair, filled with admiration for her courage and ambition. Recommended reading for prime ministers and presidents everywhere." - Peter Carey

"Its pages are lit by Shamsie's eloquent prose . A novel well worth reading." - Helen Dunmore

"Shamsie's simple, lucid prose plays in perfect harmony with the heartbeat of modern times. Home Fire deftly reveals all the ways in which the political is as personal as the personal is political. No novel could be as timely." - Aminatta Forna

"A searing novel about the choices people make for love, and for the place they call home." - Laila Lalami

"Into the ranks of international voices steps Kamila Shamsie, who seems as if she has heard, and listened, to the music of what surrounds us." - Colum McCann

"A very rare and uniquely rewarding writer." - Pankaj Mishra

"Kamila Shamsie is a writer of immense ambition and strength. She understands a great deal about the ways in which the world's many tragedies and histories shape one another." - Salman Rushdie

"Strong storytelling . A page-turner that is also a literary delight." - Jeanette Winterson