Get a first look at Best of Friends, which will hit shelves in September.
Kamila Shamsie’s career has been a slow and then very fast burn.
The novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Kamila Shamsie.Zain Mustafa
“It felt amazing to see the book really landing, especially in America,” Shamsie tells EW.
Below, the author reveals the cover and speaks about the book’s creation for the first time.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’re releasingBest of Friendson the heels of a career-changing novel inHome Fire.
‘Best of Friends,’ by Kamila Shamsie.Riverhead Books
Did you notice that change tangibly, or did it affect how you approached the book?
KAMILA SHAMSIE:I’ve been asking myself that.
But in the end, honestly, for me writing is so intimate.
Where it changes I think is at this stage, when you start to approach publication.
I never have expectations around the books, but there’s a different kind of machinery that gets going.
How did the idea for the new book get its start?
And that really stuck with me.
Did your inspiration start with the characters themselves?
So I wanted to make use of that.
So you wrote the book during lockdown.
Did you struggle to find your footing creatively?
Or was the book a great escape to pour yourself into?
[Laughs] So it got written in different places.
Can you tell us what you love about the cover ofBest of Friends?
