Author: Négar Djavadi

Language: English

Summary: In this high-spirited, kaleidoscopic story, key moments of Iranian history, politics, and culture punctuate stories of family drama and triumph.

Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five and facing the future she has built for herself as well as the prospect of a new generation, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which come to her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves. In the waiting room of a Parisian fertility clinic, generations of flamboyant Sadrs return to her, including her formidable great-grandfather Montazemolmolk, with his harem of fifty-two wives, and her parents, Darius and Sara, stalwart opponents of each regime that befalls them.

It is Kimiâ herself––punk-rock aficionado, storyteller extraordinaire, a Scheherazade of our time, and above all a modern woman divided between family traditions and her own “disorientalization”––who forms the heart of this bestselling and beloved novel.

WINNER 2019 ALBERTINE PRIZE

WINNER 2019 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD

FINALIST 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

FINALIST 2019 CLMP FIRECRACKER AWARD

FINALIST 2019 BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD

WINNER LE PRIX DU ROMAN NEWS

WINNER STYLE PRIZE

WINNER 2016 LIRE BEST DEBUT NOVEL

WINNER LA PORTE DORÉE PRIZE

ONE OF THE GLOBE & MAIL’S BEST BOOKS OF 2018