![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “Roya leaned against the shelves lined with books as Bahman talked, her back digging into the spines of poetry and politics. It’s title suggests a beautiful oasis into which to escape for the time it takes to read but nothing more which is fine because losing yourself in a sweetly escapist book is one of life’s great pleasures.īut as you move deeper into this profoundly moving book, you begin to realise how much muscle Kamali has written into its entrancingly lovely but achingly sad narrative which moves along at a brisk pace without once sacrificing a sense of raw, potent emotional intimacy.įar from being a light, diversionary read, which again is its own particular rich reward, The Stationery Ship of Tehran takes a hard penetrating look at how life can suddenly takes turn so sudden and unexpected that who we are and what we hope to become is forever changed. Iranian-American writer Marjan Kamali’s beautifully-wrought novel, The Stationery Ship of Tehran very much falls into this camp, a book which promises, at first glance, a delightful but low-impact appealingly romantic tale that spans six decades and includes heartache as much as eternal love. What you suppose it will be like when you pick it up in a bookstore and are intrigued enough by the back cover blurb to add it to your TBR pile – in my case, a towering mountain that will fall and smother me with words one day – is often not quite what it turns out to be and you are all the richer for it. There is a quiet joy in being surprised by a book. ![]()
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