Book: Home FireAuthor: Kamila ShamsiePublisher: Bloomsbury IndiaPages 272Rs: 599

Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie's recent novel that's made it to the 2017 Man Booker longlist, delves into the traumatic consequences of surveillance and screening on the basis of identity. It follows the lives of three orphaned children who grew up and stayed together as a family – Isma, the eldest, and Aneeka and Parvaiz, the twins – and shows how fear becomes internalised, reaching a point where one becomes suspicious of one's own family.

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The book opens with a quote from the classical Theban play Antigone – "The ones we love…are enemies of the state" – a politically charged statement that presages the course of the narrative. The story starts with Isma leaving her sister in London to travel to the US to study. As she prepares for the journey, she knows a visit to the interrogation room at the airport awaits her and ensures not to pack anything that would invite comment or questions – no Quran, no family pictures, no books on her areas of academic interest. The cumulative of questionable items, in a sense, contain all the markers of her own identity, and she must leave these behind.

As the story unfolds, readers are led to introspect on how institutions of authority and the exercise of power clamp down on one's own integrity, the truth that we hold for ourselves. What follows is a fear of being watched.The setting of the novel shifts between America and London, with much of the action taking place over Skype. Problems begin when Isma hides things from Aneeka about her separated twin brother Parvaiz, who is halfway across the globe in Syria, following in the steps of the dark legacy of the father he never knew. Isma and Aneeka also share a common link – Ayman alias Eamonn, and his father, the minister of home affairs. Aneeka attempts to unite with her brother through Eamonn, much against petrified Isma's will.

Despite the contemporary relevance of the story, the drama in Home Fire seems a bit predictable and looses pace across the many sections/chapters that follow the journey of different characters. There is a romantic subplot that is gripping, but is brought back in a somewhat forced manner towards the end. One conversation on the Quran and the ideas of physical intimacy contained therein as perceived by two women, is gripping and fresh. The novel also compels one to ponder over intimacies and relationships. Further, the family in opposition to an intimate relationship is projected in a heart-warming way. The novel's simple language helps the reader stay with the story till the very end.