The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
When we are friends when we are young, we try to see the future together. We cannot. In The Lion Women of Tehran, Marjan Kamali weaves this young wish through a story of lives buffeted by family desires and political realities.
When her father dies before she is eight, Ellie, our principal narrator, is tossed into a life of poverty in a dubious community. Innocently defying her mother’s stiff pride, which was developed as a once-respected woman, Ellie quickly makes friends with Homa, a girl from a well-grounded local family. Nothing her mother says, and she says it often, deters her from the instant rapport with a bright, fascinating friend.
Although it takes some time, Ellie’s mother marries her husband’s brother, which is customary in Iran. As a wealthy, well-connected man, he establishes the family in a modern, affluent neighbourhood, and to her mother’s delight, Ellie attends a modern, affluent school, where she makes friends with modern, affluent girls. In the era of the Shah of Iran, modern means Western. Fashionable clothes replace traditional garments. The popular hairstyle is the “beehive”. Girls and boys meet in cafés together. Publicly, women are seen and treated as equals.
Homa follows a path arising from her own background. Her father is a communist, and now so is Homa. She is a dedicated activist, especially for women’s and community rights. Rule by the autocratic Shah is unacceptable.
One evening at a party, the innocent Ellie unintentionally betrays her friend. Homa’s fate becomes murky, even as Ellie apprehensively sails into true love and marriage.
With marriage comes a doctoral scholarship in New York for Ellie’s husband. Mainly through news casts, Ellie watches the political, social, and economic deterioration of her country. Over time, the couple becomes established in the United States, without any avenues to return to their own country safely.
The spark of friendship has burned low, until one day Ellie receives a battered letter making a request only a deep relationship would allow. Homa wants her friend to accept her seventeen-year-old daughter into the safety of her American household, to save her from the consequences of Homa’s unwavering activism in support of the women of Iran.
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