WINNER OF THE BOCCACCIO PRIZE IN ITALY

'Saniee gives a voice to all the Iranian women who are victims and prisoners of domestic violence, tradition and men's abuses... Saniee's women are contemporary heroines who fight to obtain civil rights even if that can cost them their lives.' Cultura, Italy

This is a story of an Iranian girl who finds love on her way to school. When found out, she is forced into marriage to a political dissident during the last days of the Shah’s regime but is widowed soon after when her husband is executed at the hands of the new regime. When after 32 years her first love reappears, she is faced with indignation from her 3 grown up children, two of whom live abroad. Should she put her own feelings first or those of her children?

This is an extremely moving and powerful tale of women in Iran, beginning before the revolution of 1979 through the Islamic Republic to the present.  Spanning five decades it tells the story through the changing fortunes of one family and in particular of Massoumeh, the daughter. Through the highs and lows, having children and finding work (and losing it again because of political change), the changing attitudes in Iran are vividly depicted through the characters. This is a window on recent Iranian history untainted by ‘western interpretation’ making it that much more fascinating and revealing.  It is a story of strong women fighting for what they want against huge odds, a story of friendship and passion, of religious oppression but also of love for the country. 

Though it was banned twice by the Iranian regime, it has now been reprinted 21 times and is at the top of the best ever selling books in Iran. Already published to great acclaim and success in Italy where it won the Boccaccio prize for the best international book

Sales:

Roozbahan Iran

Abacus/Little Brown UK

Garzanti Italy

Font Forlag Norway

Gyldendal Denmark

Knaus Verlag Germany

Janet 45 Bulgaria

Polirom Romania

Salamandra Spanish rights

AmboAnthos NL

Laffont France

Alnari Serbia

Munhaksegye-Sa Korea

Corpus Russia

Kurdish rights

Material: Iranian and Italian edition, English translation available.