Discuss the similarities and differences between her life as a married woman in New England and her life as a teenager living in Tehran.Ģ. The first two chapters show us very different stages in Roya's life. For those who enjoy getting caught up in romance while discovering unfamiliar history of another country.'ġ.

'The unfurling stories in Kamali's sophomore novel (after Together Tea) will stun readers as the aromas of Persian cooking wafting throughout convince us that love can last a lifetime. 'A sweeping romantic tale of thwarted love.' Simultaneously briskly paced and deeply moving, this will appeal to fans of Khaled Hosseini and should find a wide audience.' With a sorrowful heart, she moves on-to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England-until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me? ( From the publisher.Critical Praise:'Kamali paints an evocative portrait of 1950s Iran and its political upheaval, and she cleverly writes the heartbreak of Roya and Bahman's romance to mirror the tragic recent history of their country. In the chaos, Bahman never shows.įor weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.Ī few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts-a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer-handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry-and she loses her heart at once. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.

Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr.

A poignant, heartfelt novel of lost love explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.

The stationery shop review