Honour

'My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten'

And so begins the story of Esma, a young Kurdish woman in London trying to come to terms with the terrible murder her brother has committed. Esma tells the story of her family stretching back three generations; back to her grandmother and the births of her mother and Aunt in a village on the edge of the Euphrates.

Named Pembe and Jamila (meaning Pink and Beautiful rather than the names their mother wanted to call them, Destiny and Enough), the twin girls have very different futures ahead of them, all of which will end in tragedy on a street in East London in 1978.

Honour is a powerful, brilliant and moving account of pain and loss, loyalty and betrayal, the clash of tradition and modernity, as well as the love and heartbreak that can tear any family apart.

A powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate

Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat

About Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-seven languages. The author of twenty books, fourteen of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak's previous novel, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, was the UK’s bestselling literary hardback novel of 2025, selling over 500,000 copies. Her work has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, amongst others, and she is currently nominated for ‘Author of the Year’ at the British Book Awards. Elif Shafak was appointed President of the Royal Society of Literature in 2025. Her books have sold several million copies worldwide.
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Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780670921171
  • Length: 352 pages
  • Price: £5.99
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