Home Fireby Kamila Shamsie is a powerful, contemporary retelling of Sophocles' Antigone, set within the tensions of modern-day British Muslim life. The novel centers on three British Muslim siblings—Isma, Aneeka, and Parvaiz—who are pulled in different directions by loyalty, love, and identity. When Parvaiz is radicalized and joins ISIS, the family’s world is shattered, and they find themselves in a tragic confrontation with Karamat Lone, a British Home Secretary with a complex relationship to his heritage.
Shamsie deftly examines themes of loyalty, the complexities of immigration, and the political divides shaping today's world. The story's tragic tension and its exploration of what individuals owe to their family and nation brought Home Fire widespread acclaim. Critics praised Shamsie’s narrative style, her nuanced characters, and her ability to translate a Greek tragedy into a story of modern significance.
Home Fire won the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction and became a major talking point, earning reviews in The Guardian, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. The book resonated globally, sparking conversations about extremism, loyalty, and the pressures facing immigrant communities, cementing Shamsie’s reputation as a writer of global consequence.
The Author
Kamila Shamsie is a renowned Pakistani-British novelist celebrated for her nuanced exploration of identity, politics, and history through fiction. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1973, Shamsie grew up in a family with a strong literary background, sparking her early interest in writing. She attended Hamilton College in New York and earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Shamsie debuted with In the City by the Sea in 1998, a novel that was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Over the years, her works have tackled themes of cultural displacement, war, and loyalty, earning her critical acclaim worldwide. Some of her most notable books include Kartography (2002), which explores the political and emotional landscapes of Karachi, and Burnt Shadows (2009), an epic narrative spanning continents and decades.
In 2017, Shamsie’s novel Home Fire reimagined Sophocles’ Antigone within a modern, British Muslim context and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018. Shamsie has been recognized for her literary contributions, named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2013. She now lives in London, where she continues to write and advocate for freedom of expression.
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