British-Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie has been named the winner of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction for her novel "Home Fire", which is a contemporary reimagining of Sophocles' "Antigone".
At an awards ceremony hosted in Bedford Square Gardens here by novelist and Women's Prize Founder Director Kate Mosse, chair of judges Sarah Sands presented the author with the prize money of 30,000 pounds and the "Bessie", a limited edition bronze figurine.
Sands said "Home Fire", published by Bloomsbury Circus, was chosen as it "spoke for our times". The book is billed as a contemporary reimagining of Antigone and tells a fiercely compelling story of loyalties torn apart when love and politics collide.
"The book 'Home Fire' is about identity, conflicting loyalties, love and politics. And it sustains mastery of its themes and its form. It is a remarkable book which we passionately recommend," she said.
The five other shortlisted novels were "Sight" (Jessie Greengrass), "The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock" (Imogen Hermes Gowar), "The Idiot" (Elif Batuman), "Sing, Unburied, Sing" (Jesmyn Ward), and "When I Hit You" (Meena Kandasamy).
According to Sands, the shortlist was dazzling, it had depth and richness and variety.
"We were forcibly struck by the quality of the prose. Each book had its champions. We loved the originality of mermaids and courtesans, we were awed by the lyrical truth of an American road trip which serves as a commentary of the history of race in America, we discussed into the night the fine and dignified treatment of a woman's domestic abuse, we laughed over a student's rite of passage and we experienced the truth of losing a parent and loving a child," she said.
In "Home Fire", Isma is free. After years spent raising her twin siblings in the wake of their mother's death, she is finally studying in the US, 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 world away from theirs.
As the son of a powerful British Muslim politician, Eamonn has his own birthright to live up to - or defy.
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