Published in 2017
276 pages
Kamila Shamsie is the author of several previous novels, including Broken Verses and Burnt Shadows. She has been a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Orange Prize (twice) and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, among other honors, and has been named one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was raised in Karachi and lives in London.
What is this book about?
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume 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. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.
Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love?
The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences