Aneek Pasha
This novel is something of a modern reinterpretation of Antigone, the ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles, and Aneek is the latter-day incarnation of the title character. She is nineteen, a law student, and a Muslim woman who wears the traditional hijab. At the same time, however, she is notably flirtatious and thus comes under stern judgment by more rigidly conversative Muslims. And, in a reflection of her classical counterpart’s tale, the focus of most of her story is specifically devoted to her efforts to facilitate the safe return of her brother to England following his ill-conceived decision to enlist in ISIS at the height of their power.
Parvaiz Pasha
Parvaiz is the brother who is a little more than gullible and a little less than kind. The direction connection between the Sophocles and the novel gets a little sketchy here because in the play Antigone’s brother is dead to begin with and his sister’s story is concerned with trying to get him an honorable burial. Parvaiz gets sucked into the propaganda of ISIS because his alternative options seem to more limited than he had expected: scholarships did not exactly come flooding his way.
Isma Pasha
Isma is sister to Aneek and Parvaiz. As her name suggests, her counterpart created by Sophocles is Ismene, Antigone’s sibling. She is older than both Aneek and Parvaiz and has essentially taking on a maternal role in the wake of back-to-back deaths of their mother and grandmother. Although deeply loving toward and concerned about both siblings, she makes the decision to protect the only one she can by informing the police of Parvaiz’s flight to ISIS, a decision seen by Aneek as nothing less than a betrayal.
Eamonn Lone
Eamoon is the twenty-something son of the British Home Secretary Karamat Lone. His counterpart in the classical tragedy is Haemon. Karamat’s counterpart is the antagonist, King Creon, with whom Antigone butts heads throughout the drama. The complexity of his father’s politics relative to his powerful position is the driving force that sends Eamonn on a path to a tragic reckoning that includes romantic entanglements with both the Pasha sisters as well as a somewhat ironic attempt to establish his dependence from his father’s political views through a very public criticism of the treatment of Parvaiz following his rejection of ISIS propaganda and his attempt to get back home.
