This beautiful yet disturbing story of a well-to-do Iranian family that is Jewish explores the ways family dynamics and cultural expectations affect the lives of three generations of women living under one roof in Kermanshah in the early twentieth century. Narrator Lameece Issaq calls on her acting background to deliver naturally paced, animated dialogue, brimming with the women's feelings as they establish their places within the household, cope with jealousy, embrace joy, face sorrows, and fulfill (or not) their duties to their husbands and God. While Issaq’s reading of the narrative is periodically broken by unexpected pauses, the ethnicity of the family and the Middle Eastern setting are enriched by her native-sounding Hebrew and other regional accents, giving listeners an added layer of connection. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
The Girl from the Garden: A Novel
Narrated by Lameece Issaq
Parnaz ForoutanUnabridged — 7 hours, 1 minutes
The Girl from the Garden: A Novel
Narrated by Lameece Issaq
Parnaz ForoutanUnabridged — 7 hours, 1 minutes
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Overview
An extraordinary new writer makes her literary debut with this suspenseful novel of desire, obsession, power and vulnerability, in which a crisis of inheritance leads to the downfall of a wealthy family of Persian Jews in early twentieth-century Iran.
For all his wealth and success, Asher Malacouti-the head of a prosperous Jewish family living in the Iranian town of Kermanshah-cannot have the one thing he desires above all: a male son. His young wife Rakhel, trapped in an oppressive marriage at a time when a woman's worth is measured by her fertility, is made desperate by her failure to conceive, and grows jealous and vindictive.
Her despair is compounded by her sister-in-law Khorsheed's pregnancy and her husband's growing desire for Kokab, his cousin's wife. Frustrated by his wife's inability to bear him an heir, Asher makes a fateful choice that will shatter the household and drive Rakhel to dark extremes to save herself and preserve her status within the family.
Witnessed through the memories of the family's only surviving daughter, Mahboubeh, now an elderly woman living in Los Angeles, The Girl from the Garden unfolds the complex, tragic history of her family in a long-lost Iran of generations past. Haunting, suspenseful and inspired by events in the author's own family, it is an evocative and poignant exploration of sacrifice, betrayal, and the indelible legacy of the families that forge us.
Editorial Reviews
★ 07/13/2015
Foroutan's richly layered debut explores the dark political maneuverings inside a single household in a Jewish enclave in Iran. When Rakhel marries Asher Malacouti, the most prosperous Jewish businessman in the town of Kermanshah, it seems like an ideal match. Asher is consumed with the need to have a male child to inherit the business, and Rakhel is desperate to conceive, but she appears to be barren—a fact that becomes even more wrenching when her sister-in-law has little trouble getting pregnant. After several years, Asher takes the radical step of taking a second wife: his cousin's disgraced ex-wife, Kokab, whom he has lusted after for years. Rakhel resorts first to subtle manipulation and then to more drastic measures in order to retain her husband's attentions and keep her place in the household secure. Eventually, during the Iranian Revolution, she leaves for America. In present-day southern California, Rakhel's niece, Mahboubeh, now an old woman, attempts to find common ground with the bitter old woman she remembers from childhood. The framework of flashbacks within flashbacks (present-day Mahboubeh, Mahboubeh as a young girl, Rakhel as a young woman) can be difficult to navigate, but Rakhel's slow descent into darkness exhilaratingly propels the plot, and Foroutan's sumptuous prose paints a vivid portrait of a rarely explored historical and cultural setting. (Aug.)
A lush debut... Foroutan is a modern-day Scheherazade, weaving her tale through the entire 20th century, from an aging woman in her L.A. garden to the brothers whose determination to spawn heirs tortured the harem she was raised in.” — Willamette Week
“A powerful and moving novel about the devastating choices women face when their worth is tied to their wombs but not themselves. Parnaz Foroutan takes the timeless themes of love, honor, sacrifice and betrayal and makes them new.” — Gloria Steinem
“The Girl from the Garden is a spectacular novel-a riveting, finely wrought portrait of loss, longing, and passion in the intimate lives of an extended family in Iran. Foroutan is a writer of astounding talent, and her tale is moving and unforgettable.” — Carolina De Robertis, author of The Invisible Mountain
Set against the tumultuous backdrop of early 20th century Iran, The Girl from the Garden is an evocative tale of loss, betrayal and family ties. Parnaz Foroutan is a stunning new literary talent, and her debut novel is a gift to readers everywhere. — Amy Greene, author of Bloodroot
In her debut novel, Parnaz Foroutan has written an incantatory tale of love, sacrifice and an unquenchable yearning for paradise. Foroutan unfurls a sensuous, poetic tapestry of gardens and seasons, of women enshrouded and silenced by culture, of men made intractable by honor, religious tradition and filial loyalty. — Melissa Pritchard, author of PalmerinoandA Solemn Pleasure
“Some novels open the door to historical worlds you’ve never seen before, worlds that contain unforgivable cruelty and spectacular grace. Parnaz Foroutan’s The Girl from the Garden is just such a novel, a powerful story about the contorted lives of women in an ancient patriarchy, radiantly told.” — Robert Eversz, author of Zero to the Bone
“In this stunning first novel, Foroutan draws on her own family history to integrate the lore and traditions of old Iran. Suspenseful and haunting, this riveting story of jealousy, sacrifice, and betrayal and the intimately drawn characters within will not be easily forgotten.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Foroutan’s lyrical debut offers a mosaic of stories…Deftly structured, this novel traces those complications to their core, exposing the pain, oppressive forces, and difficult allegiances within and without the estate, while lending grace through the delicacy of its observation.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Foroutan’s characters grapple, often vainly, for control against larger forces—a God who doesn’t answer prayers, a state that doesn’t recognize their humanity, and people who cannot be made to bend to their needs, no matter how badly they love them.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Drawing on her own family history, in The Girl from the Garden debut novelist Parnaz Foroutan offers an evocative portrait of Iranian Jewish culture, and the experience of being a woman who felt that both her family, and her body—which dictated her worth—had betrayed her.” — Bustle.com, 16 Of August 2015's Best Books You'll Love
“Parnaz Foroutan’s scorching debut novel, The Girl From the Garden, takes us to Iran, where a couple’s inability to conceive pits a young wife against her tyrannical husband, who will stop at nothing to secure an heir.” — W Magazine (online), 3 Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List
“2015 is proving to be a year filled with awesome debut novels, and the buzz around this book leads me to believe it’s one of them!” — BookRiot
“Filled with lingering sorrow, broken hearts and cold revenge, this walk down a sometimes-darkened memory lane is not for those seeking a light-hearted read, but fans of well-paced dramas will find much to adore.” — Shelf Awareness
“A riveting portrait of family strife in a troubled land—and the fallout when a woman’s fertility determines her worth.” — People
“[U]ltimately, The Girl from the Garden is about how telling stories helps us to hold our past in our hands-and about how a flowering yard ‘teeming with life’ in far-off Los Angeles can movingly become, for one wandering storyteller, a home.” — Seattle Times
“We never learn Mahboubeh’s own story, but the sense of a personality forged by the sacrifice, betrayal and restrictions of the women who came before her will remain with the reader long after the book is over.” — BookPage
“[R]emarkable not only for its rare, intimate glimpse of an Iranian Jewish family in the early 20th century, nor for its gorgeous sentences or profound treatment of longing, loss and memory, but for how it seduces and enthralls the reader.” — San Francisco Chronicle, Carolina de Robertis
The Girl from the Garden is a spectacular novel-a riveting, finely wrought portrait of loss, longing, and passion in the intimate lives of an extended family in Iran. Foroutan is a writer of astounding talent, and her tale is moving and unforgettable.
Set against the tumultuous backdrop of early 20th century Iran, The Girl from the Garden is an evocative tale of loss, betrayal and family ties. Parnaz Foroutan is a stunning new literary talent, and her debut novel is a gift to readers everywhere.
Drawing on her own family history, in The Girl from the Garden debut novelist Parnaz Foroutan offers an evocative portrait of Iranian Jewish culture, and the experience of being a woman who felt that both her family, and her body—which dictated her worth—had betrayed her.
Foroutan’s characters grapple, often vainly, for control against larger forces—a God who doesn’t answer prayers, a state that doesn’t recognize their humanity, and people who cannot be made to bend to their needs, no matter how badly they love them.
A lush debut... Foroutan is a modern-day Scheherazade, weaving her tale through the entire 20th century, from an aging woman in her L.A. garden to the brothers whose determination to spawn heirs tortured the harem she was raised in.
A powerful and moving novel about the devastating choices women face when their worth is tied to their wombs but not themselves. Parnaz Foroutan takes the timeless themes of love, honor, sacrifice and betrayal and makes them new.
In her debut novel, Parnaz Foroutan has written an incantatory tale of love, sacrifice and an unquenchable yearning for paradise. Foroutan unfurls a sensuous, poetic tapestry of gardens and seasons, of women enshrouded and silenced by culture, of men made intractable by honor, religious tradition and filial loyalty.
Some novels open the door to historical worlds you’ve never seen before, worlds that contain unforgivable cruelty and spectacular grace. Parnaz Foroutan’s The Girl from the Garden is just such a novel, a powerful story about the contorted lives of women in an ancient patriarchy, radiantly told.
In this stunning first novel, Foroutan draws on her own family history to integrate the lore and traditions of old Iran. Suspenseful and haunting, this riveting story of jealousy, sacrifice, and betrayal and the intimately drawn characters within will not be easily forgotten.
2015 is proving to be a year filled with awesome debut novels, and the buzz around this book leads me to believe it’s one of them!
Parnaz Foroutan’s scorching debut novel, The Girl From the Garden, takes us to Iran, where a couple’s inability to conceive pits a young wife against her tyrannical husband, who will stop at nothing to secure an heir.
A riveting portrait of family strife in a troubled land—and the fallout when a woman’s fertility determines her worth.
[R]emarkable not only for its rare, intimate glimpse of an Iranian Jewish family in the early 20th century, nor for its gorgeous sentences or profound treatment of longing, loss and memory, but for how it seduces and enthralls the reader.
[U]ltimately, The Girl from the Garden is about how telling stories helps us to hold our past in our hands-and about how a flowering yard ‘teeming with life’ in far-off Los Angeles can movingly become, for one wandering storyteller, a home.
We never learn Mahboubeh’s own story, but the sense of a personality forged by the sacrifice, betrayal and restrictions of the women who came before her will remain with the reader long after the book is over.
Filled with lingering sorrow, broken hearts and cold revenge, this walk down a sometimes-darkened memory lane is not for those seeking a light-hearted read, but fans of well-paced dramas will find much to adore.
[R]emarkable not only for its rare, intimate glimpse of an Iranian Jewish family in the early 20th century, nor for its gorgeous sentences or profound treatment of longing, loss and memory, but for how it seduces and enthralls the reader.
07/01/2015
In this debut novel, Mahboubeh Malacouti, an elderly woman living in Los Angeles, recalls the stories surrounding her family in early 1900s Iran. Through her memories, Mahboubeh brings to life her Uncle Asher, the wealthiest Jewish man in the town of Kermanshah, and his young, barren wife, Rakhel. As Mahboubeh describes Asher's obsession with having an heir, she begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding her mother's death and confronts the unsavory darkness beneath her uncle's exterior. Inspired by her own family history, Foroutan's fluid narrative successfully paints an immersive tale of the inner strength of women living in a time and within a culture when their personal thoughts and opinions were unwelcomed by men and meant to be kept to themselves. VERDICT Though Foroutan is better at writing about the past than the present (the portrait of modern-day Mahboubeh is sketchy and leaves much to be desired—perhaps another novel?), she clearly has a gift for storytelling. Readers who enjoyed Nadia Hashimi's The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and similar tales of young women overcoming personal obstacles will certainly appreciate. [See Prepub Alert, 2/9/15.]—Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
This beautiful yet disturbing story of a well-to-do Iranian family that is Jewish explores the ways family dynamics and cultural expectations affect the lives of three generations of women living under one roof in Kermanshah in the early twentieth century. Narrator Lameece Issaq calls on her acting background to deliver naturally paced, animated dialogue, brimming with the women's feelings as they establish their places within the household, cope with jealousy, embrace joy, face sorrows, and fulfill (or not) their duties to their husbands and God. While Issaq’s reading of the narrative is periodically broken by unexpected pauses, the ethnicity of the family and the Middle Eastern setting are enriched by her native-sounding Hebrew and other regional accents, giving listeners an added layer of connection. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
★ 2015-06-04
Reminiscing in her Los Angeles garden, an elderly woman pieces together the tragedy of her ancestors' Iranian Jewish household, in which the actions of two brothers "who would sacrifice anything for one another" result in sorrow for three wives.Foroutan's lyrical debut offers a mosaic of stories evoking life within a wealthy Jewish home in Kermanshah, Iran, in earlier times. Although Asher Malacouti has spun the money inherited from his father into a fortune, his success has only made his desperation for a son and heir all the more urgent. This is a world of deeply traditional roles, where a wife's security depends on her fertility, so as time passes and Asher's young wife, Rakhel, fails to conceive, tensions rise. Rakhel is forced to accept Asher's decision to take a second wife, Kokab, but it drives her into a terrible suicidal episode. Then Kokab—divorced by her first husband and forcibly separated from her daughter—fails to conceive, too. Through the ghostly voices of this unhappy home, with brothers Asher and Ibrahim at its center and the womenfolk circling them like satellites, the disastrous history is slowly reassembled. The repository of these stories is Mahboubeh Malacouti, Ibrahim's daughter, who left Iran in 1977 but who has memories of Rakhel, a harsh, vindictive woman, although none at all of her own mother. All Mahboubeh knows is what Ibrahim told her, that her mother "died from the complications of womanhood." Deftly structured, this novel traces those complications to their core, exposing the pain, oppressive forces, and difficult allegiances within and without the estate, while lending grace through the delicacy of its observation. There's little joy to be found in this tale of a doomed family, flavored with myth and fairy tale, yet the poetic narration overlays the suffering with surprising beauty.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170383238 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 08/18/2015 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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