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    The Girl from the Garden: A Novel
    The Girl from the Garden: A Novel
    The Girl from the Garden: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Girl from the Garden: A Novel

    Written by Parnaz Foroutan

    Narrated by Lameece Issaq

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 18, 2015
    ISBN9780062417831
    Author

    Parnaz Foroutan

    Parnaz Foroutan is the author of Home is a Stranger and The Girl from the Garden. She was born in Iran and spent her early childhood there. She received PEN USA's Emerging Voices fellowship for this novel, which was inspired by her own family history. She has been named to the Hedgebrook fellowship and residency, and received funding from the Elizabeth George Foundation, among other institutions. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters.

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    Reviews for The Girl from the Garden

    3.5/5

    22 ratings4 reviews

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    • 2/5
      it should have been a short story. I liked having a glimpse of life in Persia, but there was no plot.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this debut.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written, sad and poetic. An insight into a way of life that feels like it must be long gone, but this book takes place in the fifties in Iran, during a time when a woman's role was to make the dinner, have babies, and keep her face covered.
      Made me temporarily hate all men.
    • 4/5
      3.5 For a successful Jewish man in Iran, not having a son is a terrible disgrace. For Rakhel, married to Asher at twelve and married for three years without any sign of a child it is a catastrophe. This story is narrated by the only remaining family member as a old woman now living in Los Angles.This is a story about brothers who would do anything for each other, about family and what it means in the Iranian culture. I enjoyed reading about this culture in which I am so lacking in knowledge. Women are treated so strictly, so unforgivingly but even though it is very hard to like the very young Rachel at times, I did like that she didn't just accept things as they were but within the narrow frame allowed her she found a way to prosper. A very heartrending story, extremely well written though it does bounce back and forth in time.The descriptions were wonderful, the family story well told. A very good story about a culture of which I am glad is very different from my own.