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.
