Kamila Shamsie

For every bullet shot by an oppressor there springs to life a starHasan lives an idyllic childhood of abundance: of pomegranates and cricket and ostensible serenity. This illusory veneer of calm is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician in a land shackled by a militaristic regime, is charged with treason, under possible penalty of death.Written with melancholic lyrical beauty and urgency, In the City by the Sea examines the loss of childhood innocence under political oppression.

_______________''A boisterous tribute to her home town that crackles with the chaos of Pakistani political life'' - The Times''Deftly woven and provocative ... Shamsie''s blistering humour and ear for dialogue scorches through their whirl of whisky and witticisms'' - Observer''You will notice very quickly that you''re reading a book by someone who can write … Above all, Kartography is a love story. And if you''re not sniffling by, or in fact on, page 113, you''re reading the wrong book'' - Guardian_______________BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN LLEWELLYN RHYS PRIZE_______________For a second I was almost jealous of the clouds. Why was he looking to them for an escape when I was right here beside him?Raised in the upper echelons of Karachi society, Karim and Raheen’s friendship is one of light and laughter. Their families, lives and destinies have been ostensibly intertwined since birth. However, as the spool of fate unwinds, a heavy silence grows between these two once-inseparable friends, culminating in a reckoning with the history of both their families and their country. A masterpiece of mirth and tragedy, Kartography is an exhilarating meditation on the decaying nature of silence and the pain of detachment, and a reminder that the past is never quite as distant as it seems._______________''Perceptive, funny and poignant'' - Times Literary Supplement''A touching love story, with the city of Karachi beating at its heart'' - Daily Mail''A gorgeous novel of perimeters and boundaries, of the regions – literal and figurative – in which we’re comfortable moving about and those through which we’d rather not travel'' - Los Angeles Times

_______________''Beautifully written in cunning, punning, glancing prose'' - Independent''A whirlwind … Owes plenty to Salman Rushdie and some to Hollywood … Exuberant, knowingly exotic and deceptively serious'' - Guardian''Kamila Shamsie has created a rich, bright world'' - Times Literary Supplement_______________Coming back to Karachi is like stepping into the sea again after months on land.Aliya finds herself constantly enraptured by her family’s unsettling legends. These are troublesome stories, tinged by the Dard-e-Dil’s fear that they are cursed by their ‘not-quite’ twins. As she becomes romantically intertwined with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, Aliya begins to see links between herself and her scandalous aunt Mariam, which may spell her undoing.A tale of family lore, secrets and forbidden love, Salt and Saffron is an awe-inspiring novel written with compassion, wryness and glittering prose._______________''A funny, clever and romantic story'' - Barbara Trapido''The stories within the stories describe Pakistani society, its peoples and its mores, better than anything that has come from the Other Side for a long time. This is a good read'' - India Today

_______________''A richly woven novel … The voice that guides us around this world darts with wit and lightness in a way that is unique and often lovely'' - Rana Dasgupta, Guardian''The plot gallops along, ensuring a gripping read … thought-provoking'' - Independent''A highly accomplished novel … A multi-layered but shrewdly simple tale'' - New Statesman, Books of the Year_______________BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTIONWhen I can bear no more of separation, when I have learnt all that absence can teach me of desire, the walls will shimmer and I will step out of the mirage, into your arms.Fourteen years after the disappearance of her fearless, beautiful mother, Samina, Aasmaani clings onto the dream of her return, refusing to believe she is dead. Now grown up and living in the bustling chaos and rich culture of modern-day Karachi, she receives longed-for proof that her mother is still alive, and the seed of her hope germinates. In her search for the truth of what really happened all those years ago, an unexpected romance will flower and the questions that have plagued her for years will be answered.Broken Verses is a deeply moving account of love, loss and motherhood, asking us to reconcile all that we believe about our families._______________''An elegant, challenging novel about love, loss and deception … vibrant'' - Daily Mail''Sparkling prose and formidable wit'' - Daily Telegraph

BY THE WINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION''A magnificent novel: beautiful, terrible, true … It reads already like a classic'' - Ali SmithShortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for FictionGrief never leaves, it merely sinks into you.Summer, 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivian Rose Spencer is in an ancient land, about to discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure, and love. Thousands of miles away a twenty-year-old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army.Summer, 1915. Viv has been separated from the man she loves; Qayyum has lost an eye at Ypres. They meet on a train to Peshawar, unaware that a connection is about to be forged between their lives – one that will reveal itself fifteen years later when anti-colonial resistance, an ancient artefact and a mysterious woman will bring them together again.A jewel-like story of the destruction of war and the serendipitous nature of fate, A God in Every Stone traverses the globe into the heart of empires fallen and conquered, demonstrating our place in the chaos of history.

‘A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces’ MADELINE MILLER** SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023 ** PICKED AS ONE OF THE SUNDAY TIMES'' BEST PAPERBACKS OF 2023** CHOSEN AS A BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR BY THE GUARDIAN, BBC, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL, IRISH TIMES AND FINANCIAL TIMES **Sometimes it was as though the forty years of friendship between them was just a lesson in the unknowability of other people…In 1988, as Pakistan is on the brink of political overhaul, two fourteen year-old girls are on the brink of womanhood. Their Arcadian days of secrets, laughter and a shared love for George Michael are brought crashing down when a snap decision at a party changes their lives forever.Years later in London, Zahra and Maryam are women with money, power and influence. They are both, however, still haunted by that night all those years ago.Insightful and unsettling, Best of Friends employs sumptuous prose to unpick the seams of a forty-year friendship and illuminate the ripple-like effects of power and history. ''An epic story that explores the ties of childhood friendship, the possibility of escape, the way the political world intrudes into the personal, all through the lens of two sharply drawn protagonists'' Observer

_______________''A formidable arching tale about loss and foreignness'' - Financial Times''Powerful, epic yet skilfully controlled … Shamsie''s voice is clear and compelling, with a welcome sparseness'' - Guardian''Completely authentic, complex, and breath-stopping'' - Emma Thompson_______________SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZEBY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTIONHere was one who would squeeze the sun in her fist if she ever got the chance; yes, and tilt her head back to swallow its liquid light.August 9th, 1945, Nagasaki. Twenty-one year old Hiroko Tanaka steps out onto her veranda, wearing an embroidered kimono ahead of her marriage to Konrad Weiss. In a second of destruction and senseless violence, everything Hiroko has known and loved is decimated. The scars, both literal and metaphorical, will stay with her forever.Attempting to escape this devastation, Hiroko travels to Delhi, encountering the bloodshed of an India undergoing Partition. As the years unravel, surnames change, new places become home and old wars are seamlessly usurped by new conflicts.A novel of tremendous scope, across land and time, Burnt Shadows perceptively demonstrates the far and unyielding reach of the tentacles of war and displacement, and the irrevocable wounds of the past._______________''Shamsie achieves the near impossibility of a truly intimate epic tale … I challenge anyone to put this book down lightly'' - Shami Chakrabarti, Observer, Books of the Year''A giant of novel … Beautifully realised'' - Independent

Kamila Shamsie retells 'The Ugly Duckling'. A Fairy Tale Revolution is here to remix and revive our favourite stories. These twists on familiar tales make the perfect Christmas gift. 'A duck unlike other ducks. A raincloud-duck, with the heart of a lion, who struck out into the world on her own...' On the farm, some eggs are hatching. A flock of sweet ducklings are popping out. But one duckling looks different from all the others... Cast out and all alone, this odd duckling will need all her bravery and curiosity to survive. Her journey is a search for belonging, but what she finds is the right to be different.

Kamila Shamsie retells 'The Ugly Duckling'. A Fairy Tale Revolution is here to remix and revive our favourite stories. These twists on familiar tales make the perfect Christmas gift. 'A duck unlike other ducks. A raincloud-duck, with the heart of a lion, who struck out into the world on her own...' On the farm, some eggs are hatching. A flock of sweet ducklings are popping out. But one duckling looks different from all the others... Cast out and all alone, this odd duckling will need all her bravery and curiosity to survive. Her journey is a search for belonging, but what she finds is the right to be different.

CENA WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 Napínavý príbeh prisťahovaleckej rodiny, ktorej rozhodnutie medzi láskou a vernosťou má zdrvujúce následky. Isma je voľná. Po rokoch starostlivosti o mladších súrodencov po matkinej smrti prijala pozvanie svojej mentorky z Ameriky a vracia sa k svojmu snu o štúdiu. Nedokáže sa však prestať strachovať o svoju nádhernú, tvrdohlavú sestru Aneeku, žijúcu v Londýne, a o brata Parvaiza, ktorý zmizol snažiac sa dokázať, že nezabudol na dedičstvo svojho džihádistického otca, hoci ho nikdy nestretol. Keď sa brat objaví na druhom konci sveta, Ismine najhoršie predtuchy sa naplnia. Vtedy do života sestier vstupuje Eamonn. Syn mocného politika s povinnosťou dostáť otcovskému odkazu. Možno uňho hľadať lásku? Môže im pomôcť zachrániť Parvaiza? Osudy dvoch rodín sa náhle a nerozlučne preplietajú v príbehu o obetách, ktoré sme schopní priniesť v mene lásky.

“Ingenious… Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I’ve read in a novel this century.” —The New York Times LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER PRIZE The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences 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?

„Mindig is sóvárgással elegy mohósággal nézte a fiúkat az apjukkal. Ha valamelyik apa tett feléje egy gesztust - megpaskolta a tarkóját, kimondta a fiam szót, meghívta egy futballmeccsre -, ő visszahúzódott, egyszerre szégyenkezve és félve, ami egyre rosszabb lett az évek múlásával, amikor lányok és fiúk világa szétvált, s ő már nem ikertestvérnek érezte magát, hanem az egyetlen hímneműnek egy olyan házban, amely minden titkot ismert, amit nők osztanak meg egymással, de semmit abból, amire az apák tanítják a fiaikat." Isma szabad. Anyjuk halála után évekig nevelte két ikertestvérét, és most folytathatja régóta dédelgetett álmát - Amerikában tanulhat. Mégis egyre nyugtalankodik Londonban élő, szép és önfejű húga, Aneeka miatt, és a fivérük, Parvaiz miatt, akinek nyoma veszett, aki méltóvá akar válni sosem látott dzsihádista apja sötét örökségéhez. És belép a nővérek életébe Eamonn. Nagy hatalmú brit muszlim politikus fia, neki is fel kell nőnie születési előjogához - vagy szembe kell szállnia vele. A két család sorsa kibogozhatatlanul, gyilkosan egybefonódik ebben a szenvedélyes hangvételű, perzselő regényben. A fiúk hazatérnek Szophoklész Antigoné című tragédiájának elsöprő erejű modern feldolgozása. Shamsie szívszorító beleérzéssel, ádázul és makacsul teszi fel újra meg újra a kérdést: Ki mondja meg, mi helyes és mi nem, amikor az embert darabokra szaggatja a szeretet és a politika összeférhetetlensége? És miféle áldozatokra vagyunk képesek a szeretetért?

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 'Elegant and evocative ... A powerful exploration of the clash between society, family and faith in the modern world' Guardian 'There is high, high music in the air at the end of Home Fire' New York Times 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.

In a prison cell in the US, a man stands trembling, naked, fearfully waiting to be shipped to Guantanamo Bay. How did it come to this? He wonders August 9th, 1945, Nagasaki. Hiroko Tanaka steps out onto her veranda, taking in the view of the terraced slopes leading up to the sky. Wrapped in a kimono with three black cranes swooping across the back, she is twenty-one, in love with the man she is to marry, Konrad Weiss. In a split second, the world turns white. In the next, it explodes with the sound of fire and the horror of realisation. In the numbing aftermath of a bomb that obliterates everything she has known, all that remains are the bird-shaped burns on her back, an indelible reminder of the world she has lost. In search of new beginnings, she travels to Delhi two years later. There she walks into the lives of Konrad's half-sister, Elizabeth, her husband James Burton, and their employee Sajjad Ashraf, from whom she starts to learn Urdu. As the years unravel, new homes replace those left behind and old wars are seamlessly usurped by new conflicts. But the shadows of history - personal, political - are cast over the entwined worlds of the Burtons, Ashrafs and the Tanakas as they are transported from Pakistan to New York, and in the novel's astonishing climax, to Afghanistan in the immediate wake of 9/11. The ties that have bound them together over decades and generations are tested to the extreme, with unforeseeable consequences. Sweeping in its scope and mesmerising in its evocation of time and place, "Burnt Shadows" is an epic narrative of disasters evaded and confronted, loyalties offered and repaid, and loves rewarded and betrayed.