Touba and the Meaning of Night

Iranian dissident and exile Shahrnush Parsipur uses magical realism and Persian myths to distill the first eight decades of the 20th century in Iran, including British and Russian imperialism, the reigns of two shahs – which a U.S.-backed coup ended – and the advent of the Islamic Revolution. Touba, the main character, marries at 14 to provide for her family, delves into sufism, marries and divorces a prince, participates in an honor killing and is haunted by the social and political traumas of the modern era.