Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie

The moral conundrum in this edgy, contemporary interpretation of Sophocles’s Antigone is how we balance fidelity to faith, family, and country. The novel’s central characters, who, like author Kamila Shamsie, are Londoners of Pakistani descent, are forced to contemplate unspeakable personal choices thanks to a series of events that entangle them through love, friendship, and jihad. Crisp prose, surprising twists of plot, and an ending that will send chills up your spine are among the reasons Home Fire (Riverhead, $26) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The seventh and best book yet from this talented young writer—and my favorite novel of the year.