This award-winning debut novel by Iranian journalist Nasim Marashi
follows the lives of three young women in Tehran over the course of two
seasons as they pursue their wildly different dreams even as they
discover that it may mean breaking with the past and endangering their
longstanding friendship.
Three recent college graduates in
Tehran struggle to find their footing in this award-winning debut by
Iranian journalist Nasim Marashi. Roja, the most daring of the three,
works in an architecture firm and is determined to leave Tehran for
graduate school in Toulouse. Shabaneh, who is devoted to her disabled
brother and works with Roja, is uncertain about marrying a colleague as
it would mean leaving her family behind. Leyla, who was unable to follow
her husband abroad because of her commitment to her career as a
journalist, is wracked with regret. Over the course of two seasons,
summer and fall, in bustling streets and cramped family apartments, the
three women weather setbacks and compromises, finding hope in the most
unlikely places. Even as their ambitions cause them to question the very
fabric of their personalities and threaten to tear their friendship
apart, time and again Roja, Shabaneh and Leyla return to the comfort of
their longtime affection, deep knowledge and unquestioning support of
each other. Vividly capturing three very distinct voices, Marashi's
deeply wrought narrative lovingly brings these young women and their
friendship to life in all their complexity.
