Home Fire

Home Fire (2017) is the seventh novel by contemporary British writer Kamila Shamsie. The same year, Home Fire was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; in 2018, it won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. This study guide refers to the 2017 Riverhead Books Edition.

Other works by this author include Best of Friends, Burnt Shadows, and Broken Verses.

Plot Summary

Shamsie’s Home Fire is a 21st-century adaptation of Antigone, a 5th-century BC play by the Ancient Greek writer Sophocles. Shamsie reimagines the events of the tragedy as if they were unfolding among the British Muslims in modern-day London, exploring such themes as the intersection of birthplace and national identity, loyalty to the family versus loyalty to the state, and the crisis of masculinity and its consequences. Shamsie, herself an immigrant from Pakistan, wrote the novel only after she became a UK citizen as not to jeopardize her chances of being granted British citizenship.

Home Fire is told from five different perspectives of the key characters, which corresponds to the original Antigone’s five acts. The novel opens with Isma Pasha, a 28-year-old Muslim hijabi woman, being interrogated at Heathrow Airport as she attempts to fly out to the USA to start her PhD program in sociology. The reasons for her detentions are her family background: Her father, Adil Pasha, was a jihadi who fought in various conflicts until he was captured in Bagram and died while en route to Guantanamo Bay. Because her father was absent much of her life, and her mother died when she was 19, Isma raised her younger twin siblings, Aneeka Pasha and Parvaiz Pasha, who were only 12 at the time of their mother’s death. Parvaiz is another reason why Isma is questioned at the airport: Shortly before Isma had to leave for the USA, he left London and went to Raqqa, Syria, to join ISIS.

Even though the detention causes Isma to miss her flight to Boston, she eventually reaches Amherst, Massachusetts, where she begins her studies while constantly staying in touch with Aneeka over Skype. At a café one morning, Isma meets 24-year-old Eamonn Lone, the son the British Home Secretary Karamat Lone. Although she dislikes Eamonn’s father, the two become friends. When after some time Isma admits to Eamonn how she feels about his father, he feels offended and doesn’t want to continue their friendship. Heartbroken, Isma explains that after her father’s death, her family tried to find information about where her father was buried. They sought help from Karamat because he was also a British Muslim, but he turned them away. Eamonn tries to justify his father, and although he and Isma reconcile, he has to fly back to London.

Upon his return, Eamonn visits Isma’s aunt’s house in Wembley, where he meets Aneeka. The girl recognizes the Home Secretary’s son even before he has a chance to introduce himself, and Eamonn immediately falls in love with her. The two soon begin a passionate affair, but Aneeka avoids talking about Parvaiz, only mentioning that he is traveling overseas. After some time, Eamonn proposes to Aneeka, and she tells him the truth about her twin brother, asking him for help to bring Parvaiz back home safely.

In the meantime, Parvaiz—who was recruited to join ISIS by a fellow British Muslim named Farooq—serves in the media wing of the Islamic State. He deeply regrets his decision to come to Syria and wants to return to London. Because Farooq took away his passport as soon as they crossed the Syrian border, Parvaiz doesn’t have a means of escape and asks Aneeka for help. The two arrange to meet in Istanbul; during one of the trips to the airport with Farooq to pick up new recruits, Parvaiz runs away and goes to the British consulate in Istanbul, intending to tell them how much he regrets going to Syria and to ask for a new passport. Farooq finds Parvaiz on the steps to the consulate and shoots him from his car.

Because Parvaiz left Britain to join ISIS, Karamat denaturalizes Parvaiz and refuses to repatriate his body, sending it to Karachi, Pakistan. Grief-stricken, Aneeka flies to Pakistan and sets camp in a local park near Parvaiz’s body, insisting that her brother be returned to London for burial. The following day, Eamonn denounces his father for his refusal to repatriate Parvaiz’s body and flies to Karachi to be with Aneeka. As soon as he reaches the park, two men come up to him and strap a belt with explosives around his waist. Seeing Eamonn, Aneeka runs up to him, despite his protesting, and the two of them embrace.