Kamila Shamsie

Mostly Books Meets...

On the podcast this week we are speaking to award-winning novelist Kamila Shamsie. I thought for a long time about how best to introduce a writer as renowned and respected as Kamila. I toyed with the idea of listing off her many accolades and achievements, but each time I read them out loud I found it didn’t capture the experience of reading a Shamsie novel for the first time. Instead, I’ll tell you that those who know and love her work talk about it in the same way they might recount a chapter from their own lives. Those who have yet to read one of her novels soon find themselves the subject of a swift conversion. Home Fire, with its beautiful and heart-breaking merging of the personal and the political, had a profound effect on me. And so, too, did Kamila’s latest novel, Best of Friends, which is published on 27th September. Best of Friends is an exquisite portrayal of friendship, of coming of age both physically and politically, and an exploration of how even those closest to us can still remain unknowable. The podcast is produced and presented by Jack Wrighton @jackwrighton and the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. It is edited by Michael Roberts @michael.glyn.roberts. Best of Friends is published in the UK by Bloomsbury. Books mentioned in this episode include: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis ISBN: 9780007323128 Meatless Days by Sara Suleri ISBN: 9780241342466 Companion Piece by Ali Smith ISBN: 9780241541340 Sterling Karat Gold by Isabel Waidner ISBN: 9781913512040 The Candy House by Jennifer Egan ISBN: 9781472150912 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf ISBN: 9780141183411 Best of Friends BY Kamila Shamsie ISBN: 9781526647702