Honour
by Elif Shafak
The story traces the Kurdish-Turkish Topraks family across three generations and from the Euphrates to the Thames, twisting and lurching and dancing around tragedy all the time. It's like watching a moth circling a flame - painful, casting long shadows, but impossible to look away.
Extract
Coffee was like love, they said, the more patient you were with it, the better it would taste. But Jamila didn't know much about that. She had been in love once, and it had tasted sour and dark. Having scalded her tongue, she never spoke of it any more.
Parallels
Minaret by Leila Aboulela
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka