Indies Introduce

Fiction

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  The Girl from the Garden, Parnaz Foroutan
  Ecco, 9780062388384, August 18, 2015 (Fiction)
  

  In this delicate, rich story, we are witness to a society little-known and oft-veiled: the home life of Jewish women in the Middle East. The writing is sublime, approaching poetry on many occasions. I very much look forward to introducing readers to this wonderful new author and the world she has revealed.

  Elayna Trucker, Napa Bookmine (Napa, CA)
  
  

  THE GIRL FROM THE GARDEN, by Parnaz Foroutan, is a wonderful novel dealing with a subject completely alien to me -- Jewish families living in Iran during the 1950s and 1960s. Told in flashbacks from the point of view of an elderly woman who immigrated to America and currently tends her garden in California, the book reflects upon the wife of the second son of a wealthy Jewish family in Tehran. She is unable to carry a baby to maturity, so her husband finds a second wife, a disgraced woman who has born a daughter but was forced to give her away. The clash between the two wives leads to a palpably intense atmosphere in the home. The book beautifully shows how it feels to be displaced -- as a woman, a wife, a religious group. A story that will call to mind the works of Khaled Hosseini, this will be of special interest to women, people of the Jewish faith, and book clubs!  The writing is lovely, even when the subject matter becomes tawdry and frightening. If this book finds the right audience, it could be a breakout, especially in trade paperback.

  Bill Carl, Booksellers on Fountain Square (Cincinnati, OH)