Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie

 When Isma Pasha and Eamonn Lone meet in a Massachusetts coffee bar, they are both far from home but have plenty in common. They are both Asian British with homes in North London, but their circumstances differ.

Isma’s a marked woman. Just getting into the USA to do a PhD was problematic, as her father was a jihadi involved in worldwide campaigns before dying in captivity on his way to Guantanamo Bay. He prioritised the fight ahead of his family, leaving Isma with few memories, none good, of him but many of her long-suffering, now deceased, mother. Her younger siblings, twins Aneeka and Parvaiz, never knew their father.

Eamonn’s father, by contrast, is Karamat Lone, poster boy Home Secretary in the UK Government who has made a career of embracing his Britishness. Eamonn is in the US, his entry presumably unproblematic, to visit the family of his mother, a successful Irish-American businesswoman, and, as is his wont, to enjoy himself.

Isma and Eamonn get on but their differences prevent any intimacy, not least because Isma knows, but does not tell, that her brother Parvaiz has gone off to join Isis. Later, back in London, Eamonn tries his luck with the younger, more attractive, sister, Aneeka. After an initial rebuff, she comes on to him. He does not question her change of heart.

The story switches to Parvaiz to give an account of his radicalisation, flight to Isis, and life in Raqqa, where reality begins to bite. And reality starts to bite in London too, boding ill for Aneeka and Eamonn, and worse for Home Secretary, Karamat Lone. Difficult choices have to be made, with lives at risk, careers at stake, and love exerting its painful pull.

Tightly written at under three hundred pages, Isma, Eamonn, Parvaiz, Aneeka and Karamat sequentially narrate events and give voice to their conflicting loyalties. The different perspectives are well balanced and give insights that must resonate within the British Asian community.

The Subtle Knife – Philip Pullman

 This is the second volume of the His Dark Materials trilogy, re-read to tie in with the current BBC serialisation.

At the end of volume one, Lyra walked into the hole in the sky created by her father Lord Asriel. Here we learn it leads to another world and the city of Cittagazze. The city is outwardly idyllic, but it is deserted except for bands of children. Where have the adults gone?

Meanwhile in Oxford (that is the Oxford in our world, not the similar Oxford in Lyra’s world) a young boy, Will Parry, delivers his mentally fragile mother to a safe location before confronting some ominous men in suits searching his house. They are after letters sent home by Will’s long lost father while on an expedition to the Alaskan wilderness. Will foils the men, takes the letters, and looks for somewhere safe to hide. He stumbles over a strange ‘hole in the air’ and climbs through to find himself also in Cittagazze.

Will and Lyra meet, and adventures ensue, involving Lyra’s mystical alethiometer gadget and a subtle knife that opens windows into other worlds. After some flitting between worlds, Lyra decides to continue on Lord Asriel’s trail. Will would like to find his father, too and fortunately, according to the alethiometer, both searches are entwined so the intrepid pair can set forth together.

Meanwhile the witches, led by Serafina Pekkala, seek Lyra for their own purposes; aided by Texan airman Lee Scoresby, whose role it is to find the shaman Stanislaus Grumman, who knows something important. Pursuing them all is Mrs Coulter, Lyra’s wicked mother, in deadly alliance with those Oxford men in suits and the sinister forces that emptied adults from the streets of Cittagazze.

People get hurt, wounded, tortured, killed, so this is no fairy story. It moves quickly and, provided the fantasy is bought into, satisfyingly. But as the middle book of the trilogy, little is resolved. Instead the pieces are left nicely set up for the finale in book three.

You Are Awful (But I Like You) – Tim Moore

 Tim Moore decides to visit the worst places in Great Britain, or at least those with the worst reputation. Taking as his guide various surveys and his own preconceptions his itinerary takes in run down seaside resorts (Great Yarmouth, Skegness, Southport and Rhyl); fallen industrial giants (Hull, Middlesbrough, Merthyr); dead end towns (Barrow, Hartlepool); and many points in between.

To add to his sorry trip he stays at hotels and eats from establishments with the worst Trip Advisor ratings and visits ‘attractions’ with the most rubbish reviews. He buys an old Austin Maestro (the worst of a bad bunch of British Leyland models) to make the trip and compiles a playlist of the most mind numbing music to play en route.

If that doesn’t sound fun, in Moore’s capable hands it is, as he mercilessly lampoons the places and the people who live and work there. Some stops last barely an afternoon, so it is hardly an in depth or even fair assessment of some challenging environments. But it is funny, provided you don’t live there.

Despite the laughs, it paints a sorry picture. However the conclusion does acknowledge that at least these places have (or had) identity and character (be it bad, sad or dangerous) and it is with an element of regret that Moore records the demise of the distinctive and its replacement by the bland.