On a train trip with her grandmother, young Banafsheh meets a woman who
reminds her of her dead mother. The woman is a teacher and a writer, and
she promises she will call Banafsheh and come and tell her stories.
Later, the teacher weaves the encounter into a story that she tells to
the children in her classroom. The children are entranced by the story
and imagine how it will turn out. Surely, they say, the teacher will
call the little girl.
But the teacher never calls, though Banafsheh waits faithfully by the
phone and refuses even to go out to play. Meanwhile, the teacher is
disconcerted by her class's reaction, and she agonizes over how to end
her story. As a writer, she feels that the story is more important than
anything else, and that the ending must be exciting and eventful, no
matter what. Perhaps Banafsheh will even have to become ill and die?
In the end, the teacher does visit Banafsheh, but finds that it is too
little too late. Banafsheh is very angry with the teacher, and hurt.
Finally, the teacher makes the biggest sacrifice she knows -- her
manuscript -- in order to save the friendship.
This is a thought-provoking and emotionally powerful novel that raises
intriguing and child-friendly questions about how real life and stories
are interwoven, who owns stories, and whether they can ever truly
disappear.