Best Of Friends [Bloomsbury Publishing]

A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people - from the internationally bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction"The spirit of Elena Ferrante haunts this tale of a friendship forged in Karachi." - Sunday TimesZahra and Maryam have been best friends since childhood in Karachi, even though - or maybe because - they are unlike in nearly every way. Yet they never speak of the differences in their backgrounds or their values, not even after the fateful night when a moment of adolescent impulse upends their plans for the future. Three decades later, Zahra and Maryam have grown into powerful women who have each cut a distinctive path through London. But when two troubling figures from their past resurface, they must finally confront their bedrock differences - and find out whether their friendship can survive."A new Kamila Shamsie novel is always worth celebrating, but Best of Friends is something else: an epic story that explores the ties of childhood friendship, the possibility of escape, and the way the political world intrudes into the personal, all through the lens of two sharply drawn protagonists." - The Observer"Gentle but insistent... If you’re worried that a novel about the longevity of childhood friendship sounds sentimental, don’t be. Tangled up with Maryam and Zahra’s relationship are questions of responsibility, justice, power and ethics... It’s the deep-rooted and complicated bond between the two women that keeps us turning the pages... Alive and kicking beneath the surface. Simmering gently." - Chloe Ashby, The Spectator UKThought-provoking, compassionate, and full of unexpected turns, Best Of Friends offers a riveting take on an age-old question: Does principle or loyalty make for the better friend?