During the fundamentalist revolution in Iran, a 17-year-old girl is
arrested by the Revolutionary Guards. She is not political, but her
brother and sister-n-law are, so she is suspect too. She is confined in
a former bathhouse with several other women ranging in age from
adolescence to elderly, whose mental states vary from the stoic and
care-giving to the insane. Based on interviews with several Iranian
women who had been imprisoned in such a bathhouse, this novel documents
the torment they endured and honors their humanity and courage. Winner
of the 2001 Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction.