Martyr!

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is a beautifully told story that encompassed enough to be an epic, but personal enough to be intimate. A masterclass in writing along with a moving story.

Cyrus Shams has always been lost. He’s grown up tangled in the mysteries of his past – an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter, and his mother, whose plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby. Now, newly sober and maybe in love, he’s headed for an encounter that will transform everything he thought he knew. Can a final revelation change the truth of Cyrus's life?

Electrifying, funny, and all-consuming, Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a masterpiece. Read this book.

Akbar, Kaveh. (2024). Martyr! New York: Random House.

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar is a beautiful tale of one family's difficult time during the Islamic revolution in Iran. Translated from Persian.

Narrated by Bahar, a thirteen year old ghost, we follow her family as they flee from Tehran for a small village in the forest. They build a house in the woods where they can continue to enjoy the now illegal music, books and intellectual freedom they had before the revolution.

In the chaos of the time they are only trying to go on living. While the violence of the time intrudes, the writing of this family tale is more folktale than horror story. Infused with magical realism, this based on real life tale, is poignant in our unstable times.

Azar and her translator have created a story that will quickly become a classic. Read this book for the beauty of an ancient culture trying to survive in the midst of political oppression.  

Azar, Shokoofeh. (2017). The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree. NY: Europa Editions.