Home Fire: A Novel
Loyalty or truth. Family or country. You can’t choose both. A modern tragedy about love, identity, and the devastating cost of belonging in a world that demands you take sides.
Home Fire reimagines the ancient Greek tragedy of Antigone in a contemporary world shaped by immigration, identity, and the War on Terror. At its heart are three British Muslim siblings, bound by loyalty, torn by politics, and driven by love, betrayal, and the cost of silence.
Shamsie’s novel is both intimate and political, asking urgent questions about family, citizenship, and what we owe to each other when belonging comes with conditions and love comes with risk.
📗 In The Mood For…
Challenging My Views
A daring, timely confrontation with loyalty, nationalism, and moral ambiguity.
✅ Makes you question who gets to belong and at what cost
✅ Dissects extremism and state power with nuance and empathy
📘 Stories About…
The Weight of Choices
A single decision splinters a family and the fallout is irrevocable.
✅ Characters must choose between love, duty, and country
✅ Every act has moral complexity and emotional cost
Family & Generations
A sibling bond tested by secrets, sacrifice, and political fire.
✅ Explores intergenerational tension and inherited roles
✅ Family is both salvation and undoing
Freedom & Constraint
Who gets to speak, move, and live freely? Who doesn’t?
✅ Explores systemic control, surveillance, and constrained futures
✅ Tension between personal freedom and collective responsibility