The Lion Women of Tehran
Intense
Unforgettable
Vibrant

The Lion Women of Tehran

Marjan Kamali2024
From the nationally bestselling author of the “powerful, heartbreaking” (Shelf Awareness) The Stationery Shop, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.” But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives. Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences. Written with Marjan Kamali’s signature “evocative, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful” (Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light) prose, The Lion Women of Tehran is a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young, and the way love and courage transforms our lives.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Rana Sulieman
Rana Sulieman@rsullie17
4 stars
Nov 27, 2024
Photo of Kat Albanese
Kat Albanese@coachkitty
5 stars
Oct 21, 2024
Photo of Cheri McElroy
Cheri McElroy@cherimac
3.5 stars
Sep 29, 2024
Photo of Lindsay
Lindsay@schnurln
4 stars
Sep 27, 2024
Layered
Vibrant
Magnetic
Touching
Unforgettable
Photo of Lisa Savage
Lisa Savage@panky
4 stars
Jul 26, 2024
Photo of Rosie Reyes
Rosie Reyes@sweetierose
4.5 stars
Jul 13, 2024
Intense
Vibrant
Remarkable
Extraordinary
Inspirational
Unforgettable

Highlights

Photo of Lindsay
Lindsay@schnurln