Home Fire: WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018
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By Kamila Shamsie
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7 reviews
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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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Reviews
A reimagining of Sophocles' Antigone, the novel is suitable for KS5 students. An incredibly quick but complex novel that hooks you in . A little slow at to warm up at the start but by the end you won't want to put down and the final scene is unforgettable.
Thought provoking novel. Makes you think about all the issues involved and how much it pulls families apart! Particularly timely read for anyone who is interested in the current news story about the young British woman who wants to return to the UK from Syria. After reading this book I’m on the side of allowing her return.
This book is insightful and refreshing, it isn't often you get to peek inside the lives of people you live and work alongside and find out something so totally unexpected about them. This clever book gave such a sympathetic and realistic understanding of what it means to be a female British Muslim in 2018, something concrete and relatable that takes you behind headlines and hyperbole.
I recommend everybody read this book, as group we were so pleased to see it win the Womens Prize for Fiction, but delighted we had the opportunity to read it.
Mesmerising from the start. The narrative style was very effective- each main character as the central focus of a section of the novel, enabling the reader to really get involved with their part in the story. The characters were very realistic and utterly believable. The novel has a very powerful ending. This is one of the best books I’ve read. I would definitely recommend it.
Wow! What an absolutely brilliant book. I loved everything about it. It's fantastically well written, it gripped me from the start, the characters are believable and likeable and I cared what happened to them, it's a great plot that kept me guessing to end and the ending left me reeling. I can't stop thinking about it. A highly recommended read.
I really loved this book. It challenged me to think differently, and it was beautifully written. Would recommend to anyone.
I found this a really powerful and thought provoking novel, challenging me to look at issues from different viewpoints. The sections are shown from different characters' points of view, and you get caught up in the individual journeys and motivations. It pulls you in and builds to a shocking resolution.
