Home Fire, by Kamila Shamsie was announced as the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 back in June so I have been eagerly anticipating reading it. It is a modern retelling of Sophocles's Antigone, but is also a compelling and thrilling story of contemporary Britain.
Isma Pasha is a young British Muslim who has been responsible for raising her teenage twin siblings Aneeka and Parvais, since the death of their parents. As the novel begins Isma is finally able to realise her dream of studying in America,. Whilst there she meets and befriends Eamonn, the son of a British Pakistani father and an Irish American mother, who soon becomes involved with the whole Pasha family. Matters are complicated by the fact that their father was a jihadi who was captured in Afghanistan and killed while en route to Guantanamo Bay, and Eamonn's father is the British Home Secretary, Karamat Lone. Cue a complicated story of conflicting loyalties and clashing cultures - a real Greek Tragedy.
The story with its themes of love, loyalty and clashes of both family and faith (Ancient Greek themes that are very relevant today) is revealed from 5 different viewpoints (Isma, Aneeka, Parvais, Eamonn and Karamat) and builds to a brutal and devastating climax that left me reeling. I don't want to give away too much of the plot but need to tell you that it is an insightful exploration of the dilemma faced by Muslims in Britain today that draws you in and leaves you a little changed for reading it. It is a Greek Tragedy, so you shouldn't be expecting a happy ending but if you like a book to be a slightly uncomfortable read that will really make you think, then you should read this.
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