Editor Reviews:

Product Description:

In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known.

As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realizes that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger.

A page-turning literary debut, The Septembers of Shiraz simmers with questions of identity, alienation, and love, not simply for a spouse or a child, but for all the intangible sights and smells of the place we call home.

Rating : - Well worth reading
This was a touching and tragic story of a man who has worked his way into privilege and wealth from humble beginnings only to lose it all when the winds of government change directions. Touching because we see the bonds of family strengthened. Tragic because we are witness to the suffering and death of innocent people.

Not only do we experience the sufferings of Isaac and the prisoners but also that of Isaac's family.

His wife Farnaz, who at one point wonders how she had married such a man, realizes how much she misses Isaac and has taken him for granted.

Son Parviz is safe in America going to college but he is drifting through his life unable to focus because he has lost the anchor that is his family.

Daughter Shirin is just nine years old but risks her life and her family's safety in an impulsive act to help people she doesn't know.

I though the author did a good job of showing the grief, shame and injustice of what the entire family felt at going from positions of prestige and authority to losing everything and fleeing for their life. The book also dealt with complex issues such as mortality, family ties, loyalty, and faith. This was a very worthwhile read.