Audiobooks by Kamila Shamsie

"Bloomsbury presents Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie, read by Tania Rodrigues 'A richly woven novel … The voice that guides us around this world darts with wit and lightness in a way that is unique and often lovely' - Rana Dasgupta, Guardian 'The plot gallops along, ensuring a gripping read … thought-provoking' - Independent 'A highly accomplished novel … A multi-layered but shrewdly simple tale' - New Statesman, Books of the Year BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION Fourteen years ago Aasmaani's mother Samina, a blazing beauty and fearless activist, walked out of her house and was never seen again. Aasmaani refuses to believe she is dead and still dreams of her glorious return. Now grown up and living in Karachi, Aasmaani receives what could be the longed-for proof that her mother is still alive. As she comes closer to the truth she is also irresistibly drawn to Ed, her ally and sparring partner, and the only person who can understand the profound hurt – and the profound love – that drives her. 'An elegant, challenging novel about love, loss and deception … vibrant' - Daily Mail 'Sparkling prose and formidable wit' - Daily Telegraph P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2005 Kamila Shamsie"

Kamila Shamsie (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)

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Kartography

"Bloomsbury presents Kartography by Kamila Shamsie, read by Tania Rodrigues 'A boisterous tribute to her home town that crackles with the chaos of Pakistani political life' - The Times 'Deftly woven and provocative ... Shamsie's blistering humour and ear for dialogue scorches through their whirl of whisky and witticisms' - Observer 'You will notice very quickly that you're reading a book by someone who can write … Above all, Kartography is a love story. And if you're not sniffling by, or in fact on, page 113, you're reading the wrong book' - Guardian BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN LLEWELLYN RHYS PRIZE Soul mates from birth, Karim and Raheen finish one another's sentences, speak in anagrams and lie spine to spine. They are irrevocably bound to one another and to Karachi, Pakistan. It beats in their hearts - violent, polluted, corrupt, vibrant, brave and ultimately, home. As the years go by they let a barrier of silence build between them until, finally, they are brought together during a dry summer of strikes and ethnic violence and their relationship is poised between strained friendship and fated love. 'Perceptive, funny and poignant' - Times Literary Supplement 'A touching love story, with the city of Karachi beating at its heart' - Daily Mail 'A gorgeous novel of perimeters and boundaries, of the regions – literal and figurative – in which we’re comfortable moving about and those through which we’d rather not travel' - Los Angeles Times P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2002 Kamila Shamsie"

Kamila Shamsie (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)

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Burnt Shadows

"Bloomsbury presents Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, read by Tania Rodrigues. 'A formidable arching tale about loss and foreignness' - Financial Times 'Powerful, epic yet skilfully controlled … Shamsie's voice is clear and compelling, with a welcome sparseness' - Guardian 'Completely authentic, complex, and breath-stopping' - Emma Thompson SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION Here was one who would squeeze the sun in her fist if she ever got the chance; yes, and tilt her head back to swallow its liquid light. August 9th, 1945, Nagasaki. Twenty-one year old Hiroko Tanaka steps out onto her veranda, wearing an embroidered kimono ahead of her marriage to Konrad Weiss. In a second of destruction and senseless violence, everything Hiroko has known and loved is decimated. The scars, both literal and metaphorical, will stay with her forever. Attempting to escape this devastation, Hiroko travels to Delhi, encountering the bloodshed of an India undergoing Partition. As the years unravel, surnames change, new places become home and old wars are seamlessly usurped by new conflicts. A novel of tremendous scope, across land and time, Burnt Shadows perceptively demonstrates the far and unyielding reach of the tentacles of war and displacement, and the irrevocable wounds of the past. 'Shamsie achieves the near impossibility of a truly intimate epic tale … I challenge anyone to put this book down lightly' - Shami Chakrabarti, Observer, Books of the Year 'A giant of novel … Beautifully realised' - Independent C 2009 Kamila Shamsie P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"

Kamila Shamsie (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)

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In the City by the Sea

"Bloomsbury presents In the City by the Sea by Kamila Shamsie, read by Mikhail Sen. For every bullet shot by an oppressor there springs to life a star Hasan lives an idyllic childhood of abundance: of pomegranates and cricket and ostensible serenity. This illusory veneer of calm is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician in a land shackled by a militaristic regime, is charged with treason, under possible penalty of death. Written with melancholic lyrical beauty and urgency, In the City by the Sea examines the loss of childhood innocence under political oppression. P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 1998 Kamila Shamsie"

Kamila Shamsie (Author), Mikhail Sen (Narrator)

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A God in Every Stone

"Bloomsbury presents A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie, read by Tania Rodrigues. BY THE WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 'I can’t recommend A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie too strongly ... Exciting and, in the end, profoundly moving, this will solace you during the grimmest holiday' – Antonia Fraser, Guardian Summer Reading 'A magnificent novel: beautiful, terrible, true … It reads already like a classic' – Ali Smith 'A moving story of love and betrayal, generosity and brutality, hope and injustice, full of characters that stay with you' – Financial Times Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Summer, 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivian Rose Spencer is in an ancient land, about to discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure, and love. Thousands of miles away a twenty-year-old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army. Summer, 1915. Viv has been separated from the man she loves; Qayyum has lost an eye at Ypres. They meet on a train to Peshawar, unaware that a connection is about to be forged between their lives – one that will reveal itself fifteen years later when anti-colonial resistance, an ancient artefact and a mysterious woman will bring them together again."

Kamila Shamsie (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)

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Writers on Walks: A BBC Radio 3 Collection: 30 Reflections from Exploring on Foot

"22 writers talk about their memorable excursions and the act of walking, and share their creative observations In these six series, taken from BBC Radio 3's The Essay, an array of novelists, poets, journalists and biographers chart the varied and inspiring walks they have taken around Britain and elsewhere. Here are treks taken at daybreak and after dark; in winter and in spring; in the footsteps of the past; and - in the case of Robert Macfarlane - along the ridges of the South Downs. Dawnwalks and Night Walks find Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Sansom, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Owen Sheers, Janice Galloway and John Walsh taking early morning and late-night strolls around locations ranging from their back garden and local cemetery to Manhattan, Paris, Tasmania and the Antarctic. Springwalks and Winterwalks feature Michele Roberts, Ross Raisin, John Walsh, Kirsty Gunn, Philip Hoare, Deborah Levy, Christopher Hope, Scarlett Thomas, Erica Wagner and Owen Sheers, as they sample the transforming qualities of spring and the wonders of winter. From Poland and the Languedoc to Hampstead Heath and the Yorkshire Wolds, they delight in the details of the landscape and reflect on what it means to them. Strange Strolls sees Jenn Ashworth, Michael Donkor, Stephanie Victoire, Nat Segnit and Sophie Coulombeau embarking on walks of entertaining eccentricity, revisiting favourite places including Wandsworth Bridge, the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia and Ibiza. And in A Five-Day Journey, Robert Macfarlane walks the length of the South Downs in monsoon rain and in sunshine, discovering its chalk trails and its ghosts. He ponders the relationship between paths and stories; explores the poet Edward Thomas' love affair with tracks; considers the concept of the Aboriginal Australian songline; re-imagines the life of artist Eric Ravilious; and contemplates the sometimes eerie relationship between walking, collecting and creation. Intimate, evocative and immersive, these 30 uplifting programmes transport us to a wealth of wonderful places, and offer fascinating personal insight into the inner worlds of our walker-writers. Production credits Produced by Duncan Minshull, Ciaran Bermingham and Tim Dee First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: Dawnwalks Nicholas Shakespeare 28 March 2016 Nicola Barker 29 March 2016 Kamila Shamsie 30 March 2016 Ian Sansom 31 March 2016 Lucy Hughes-Hallett 1 April 2016 Night Walks Nicholas Shakespeare 27 October 2008 Owen Sheers 28 October 2008 Janice Galloway 29 October 2008 Kamila Shamsie 30 October 2008 John Walsh 31 October 2008 Springwalks Michele Roberts in Poznan 31 March 2014 Ross Raisin in the Yorkshire Wolds 1 April 2014 John Walsh 2 April 2014 Kirsty Gunn in Sutherland 3 April 2014 Philip Hoare in Sholing 4 April 2014 Winterwalks Deborah Levy on Hampstead Heath 18 February 2013 Christopher Hope in Languedoc 19 February 2013 Scarlett Thomas 20 February 2013 Erica Wagner 21 February 2013 Owen Sheers in Poland 22 February 2013 Strange Strolls Jenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston 10 February 2020 Michael Donkor - On Westminster Bridge 11 February 2020 Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls 12 February 2020 Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza 13 February 2020 Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda 14 February 2020 A Five-Day Journey Marking 2 November 2009 Haunting 3 November 2009 Singing 4 November 2009 Flying 5 November 2009 Collecting 6 November 2009 © 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd."

Christopher Hope, Deborah Levy, Erica Wagner, Ian Samson, Jenn Ashworth, Kamila Shamsie, Kirsty Gunn, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Michael Donkor, Michèle Roberts, Nat Segnit, Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Owen Sheers, Philip Hoare, Robert MacFarlane, Ross Raisin, Scarlett Thomas, Sophie Coulombeau (Author), Various (Narrator)

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Best of Friends: from the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction

"Bloomsbury presents Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie, read by Tania Rodrigues. ‘A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces’ MADELINE MILLER ** SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023 ** PICKED AS ONE OF THE SUNDAY TIMES' BEST PAPERBACKS OF 2023** CHOSEN AS A BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR BY THE GUARDIAN, BBC, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL, IRISH TIMES AND FINANCIAL TIMES ** Maryam and Zahra. In 1988 Karachi, two fourteen-year-old girls are a decade into their friendship, sharing in-jokes, secrets and a love for George Michael. As Pakistan’s dictatorship falls and a woman comes to power, the world suddenly seems full of possibilities. Elated by the change in the air, they make a snap decision at a party. That night, everything goes wrong, and the two girls are powerless to change the outcome. Zahra and Maryam. In present-day London, two influential women remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways. Now both have power; and both have very different ideas of how to wield it… Their friendship has always felt unbreakable; can it be undone by one decision? 'An epic story that explores the ties of childhood friendship, the possibility of escape, the way the political world intrudes into the personal, all through the lens of two sharply drawn protagonists' Observer C 2022 Kamila Shamsie P 2022 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"

Kamila Shamsie (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)

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The Islamic Golden Age: A BBC history 770 - 1258 CE

"Major BBC series rediscovering some of the key thinkers and achievements from the Golden Age of Islam. Between the 8th and 13th Century, the Islamic world flourished. This 500-year period of monumental political and cultural change became known as its 'Golden Age', characterised by unprecedented advancement in the fields of architecture, invention, medicine, innovation and philosophy, which still inform huge parts of the modern world. In these 20 episodes, we hear about some of the most remarkable events and individuals of this extraordinary epoch. Beginning with the establishment and expansion of the Islamic State, the series encompasses the rise of Shi-ism, the introduction of paper to the Western world, the brilliance and beauty of Islamic architecture and the intellectual powerhouses of Baghdad and Cairo. We also meet important historical figures, including Harun Al-Rashid (the Caliph from the Thousand and One Night tales), mathematician and astronomer Al-Khwarizmi, philosopher and physician Avicenna, influential poet and mystic Al-Rumi and the great 12th Century hero Saladin. Each episode is presented by experts in the field, who share their knowledge and passion, among them lawyer and politician Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, scientist Jim Al-Khalili, theologian Professor Mona Siddiqui, Persian scholar Narguess Farzad and award-winning writer Kamila Shamsie. Also included are two episodes of In Our Time hosted by Melvyn Bragg, the first expanding further on the colourful career of Avicenna, and the second discussing the life and ideas of a prescient intellectual who lived just after the Golden Age: the 14th Century philosopher of history Ibn Khaldun. Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd Presented by Hugh Kennedy, Professor Robert Gleave, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Professor Jonathan Bloom, Professor Julia Bray, Narguess Farzad, Jim Al-Khalili, Professor James Montgomery, Professor Peter Adamson, Dr Tony Street, Dr. Sussan Babaie, Dr Simonetta Calderini and Dr Delia Cortese, Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor Charles Burnett, Dr. Amira Bennison, Jonathan Phillips and Kamila Shamsie Produced by Sarah Taylor and Mohini Patel First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from November 2013 to February 2014. Track list: 1. The Establishment of the Islamic State 2. Ali ibn Abi Talib 3. Imam Bukhari 4. Paper 5. Harun al-Rashid 6. Rabia Balkhi and Mahsati Ganjavi 7. Al-Khwarizmi 8. Al-Kindi 9. Al-Farabi 10. Avicenna 11. Al-Tabari 12. Islamic Architecture 13. Al-Biruni 14. Al Hakim 15. Al-Ghazali 16. Ibn Rushd 17. Cities of Learning 18. Salah al-Din 19. Al-Rumi 20. Lubna of Cordoba 21. In Our Time: Avicenna Presented by Melvyn Bragg With Peter Adamson; Amira Bennison and Nader El-Bizri First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8 November 2007 22. In Our Time: Ibn Khaldun Presented by Melvyn Bragg With Robert Hoyland, Robert Irwin and Hugh Kennedy First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 February 2010"

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Kamila Shamsie (Author), Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Kamila Shamsie, Melvyn Bragg (Narrator)

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Audiobooks by Kamila Shamsie

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