What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedIncendies
Film · 2010
If you loved Incendies, start with Little Fires Everywhere (Liz Tigelaar, 2020) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Incendies across media.
What hooked you in Incendies was the way the crushing weight of ancestral secrets forces characters to confront their own fractured identities.
Books on the same thread
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez · Book · 1967
Shares a thread with Incendies: generational trauma.
Much like the twins in Incendies, the Buendia family is haunted by the inescapable pull of generational trauma and the cyclical, inevitable nature of history across decades.
Home Fire
Kamila Shamsie · Book · 2017
Explores: Radicalization, British Muslims, Family Loyalty.
Like the protagonists of Incendies, the characters in Home Fire must navigate the dangerous intersection of political turmoil and the deep, often painful bonds of family loyalty.
The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood · Book · 2000
Explores: Unreliable narrator, Intergenerational trauma, Memory and loss.
If the unraveling of a mother's hidden past in Incendies resonated with you, this novel offers a similarly intricate exploration of memory, loss, and long-buried family truths.
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles · Book · 1991
Explores: inevitability of fate, tragic irony, hubris.
Incendies draws its visceral power from classical tragedy, and here you will find the same foundational themes of fate, hubris, and the devastating consequences of uncovering forbidden ancestry.
Series on the same thread
Moving
Park In-je · Series · 2023
Shares a thread with Incendies: Family Secrets.
This series mirrors the emotional core of Incendies by showing how children are forced to unearth the hidden, traumatic pasts of their parents to understand their own identities.
Generation War
Philipp Kadelbach · Series · 2013
Shares a thread with Incendies: The Horrors of War.
If you were moved by the way war destroys innocence in Incendies, this story provides an equally harrowing look at how historical conflict fractures the lives of friends.
Brothers and Sisters
Jon Robin Baitz · Series · 2006
Shares a thread with Incendies: Family Secrets.
While the scale differs, the focus on family secrets and the internal friction of a complicated household will feel familiar to anyone who followed the twins in Incendies.
Little Fires Everywhere
Liz Tigelaar · Series · 2020
Shares a thread with Incendies: Identity.
The intense mother-daughter dynamic and the slow, deliberate discovery of dangerous secrets mirror the central mystery that drives the characters in Incendies toward their inevitable truth.
Podcasts on the same thread
Slow Burn
Slate Podcasts · Podcast · 2026
Explores: Political scandal, Archival research, Cultural impact.
Just as the protagonists of Incendies piece together a forgotten past through investigative persistence, this series uncovers the hidden truths behind monumental events that shape our collective memory.
Glass
Podcast
Shares 3 threads with Incendies: family secrets, identity, generational trauma.
The personal journey toward understanding one's origins through the lens of family secrets echoes the intimate, soul-searching quest undertaken by the siblings in the film Incendies.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Incendies based on a play?
Yes, Incendies is a film adaptation of the acclaimed play written by Wajdi Mouawad. The movie follows the journey of twins Jeanne and Simon as they travel to the Middle East to uncover their mother's past and fulfill her final wishes.
What is the plot of Incendies?
Incendies tells the story of twins Jeanne and Simon who travel to the Middle East to search for their roots following their mother's death. The journey leads them to discover the impact of deep-rooted hatred and war on their family history.
Are Jeanne and Simon the main characters in Incendies?
Yes, Jeanne and Simon are the central characters in Incendies. The film documents their voyage to the Middle East, where they attempt to fulfill their mother's last wishes and learn the truth about their family's tangled history.
Does Incendies focus on family history?
Yes, Incendies focuses on the journey of twins seeking their roots. The narrative explores how their mother's last wishes lead them to confront a history defined by enduring love, the consequences of war, and the complexities of deep-rooted hatred.