Maryam and Zahra. In 1988 Karachi, two fourteen-year-old girls are a decade into their friendship, sharing in-jokes, secrets and a love for George Michael. As Pakistan's dictatorship falls and a woman comes to power, the world suddenly seems full of possibilities. Elated by the change in the air, they make a snap decision at a party. That night, everything goes wrong, and the two girls are powerless to change the outcome. Zahra and Maryam. In present-day London, two influential women remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways. Now both have power; and both have very different ideas of how to wield it... Their friendship has always felt unbreakable; can it be undone by one decision?
Kamila Shamsie Book order
Kamila Shamsie is widely acclaimed for her nuanced exploration of identity, belonging, and the complex intersections of culture and history. Her narratives are often set against the backdrop of Pakistan, delving into themes of love, family, and political upheaval with a distinctive lyrical prose. Shamsie masterfully weaves together personal stories with broader societal concerns, offering profound insights into the human condition. Her work is celebrated for its emotional depth and its ability to illuminate the lived experiences of characters navigating changing worlds.







- 2022
- 2021
Safely Gathered In
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
In Safely Gathered In, Sarah Schofield probes at the heart of what forms us and what we, in turn, form. The stories collected here expose the spaces that words often fail to reach and examine how objects - both manmade and natural - can reflect the darkest manifestations of grief and disconnection.
- 2020
In this retelling of 'The Ugly Duckling', Kamila Shamsie explores themes of identity, transformation, and belonging. The story follows a character who grapples with feelings of isolation and the desire for acceptance, ultimately discovering their true self amidst societal expectations. Shamsie's narrative adds depth to the classic tale, infusing it with contemporary relevance and emotional resonance, making it a poignant reflection on the journey of self-discovery and the challenges of fitting in.
- 2017
Home fire
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
“Ingenious… Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I’ve read in a novel this century.” —The New York Times WINNER OF THE 2018 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences, from the author of the forthcoming novel Best of Friends 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?
- 2014
- 2014
July 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivian Rose Spencer is running up a mountainside in an ancient land, surrounded by fig trees and cypresses. Soon she will discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure and the ecstasy of love. Thousands of miles away a twenty-year-old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian Army. July, 1915. Qayyum Gul is returning home after losing an eye at Ypres, his allegiances in tatters. Viv is following the mysterious trail of her missing beloved. Qayyum and Viv 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, on the Street of Storytellers, when a brutal fight for freedom, an ancient artefact and a haunting green-eyed woman will bring them together again. A powerful story of friendship, injustice, love and betrayal, A God in Every Stone carries you across the globe, into the heart of empires fallen and conquered, reminding us that we all have our place in the chaos of history and that so much of what is lost will not be forgotten.
- 2009
Air
- 208 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Original stories from remarkable writers.
- 2009
Burnt Shadows. Verglühte Schatten, englische Ausgabe
- 384 pages
- 14 hours of reading
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. Two years later, in search of new beginnings, Hiroko travels to Delhi to find Konrad's relatives and falls in love with their employee, Sajjad Ashraf. 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 different families as they are transported from Pakistan to New York, and to Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.
- 2009
Two years after her prospects are shattered by the bombing of Nagasaki, Hiroko Tanaka travels to Delhi in search of new beginnings and arrives in the home of her ex-fiance's half-sister, but she finds her circumstances halted by conflicts in the Middle East that prompt her family's eventual relocation to America.
- 2006
Aasmani sucht verzweifelt nach ihrer seit 14 Jahren verschwundenen Mutter, die wegen des Verlusts ihres geliebten Dichters fliehen musste. Diese Suche entwickelt sich zu einem befreienden Selbstfindungsprozess, während sie die Fragen nach dem Warum und dem Verlust erkundet.


