A darkly funny, life-affirming debut novel following five women from three generations of a once illustrious Iranian family as they grapple with revolutions personal and political.
‘I enjoyed it enormously’ MARIAN KEYES
‘Glorious … Darkly funny, richly satisfying’ SARAH WINMAN
‘Funny and profound … A gloriously engrossing debut’ TASH AW
‘Exuberant, comic and perceptive’ AMINA CAIN
Meet the women of the Valiat family. In Iran, they were somebodies. In America, they’re nobodies.
First there is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch with the famously large nose, who remained in Tehran despite the revolution. She lives alone in a shabby apartment except when she is visited by Niaz, her young, Islamic-law-breaking granddaughter, who takes her partying with a side of purpose, and somehow manages to survive. Across the ocean in America, Elizabeth’s daughters have built new lives for themselves. There’s Shirin, a charismatic and flamboyantly high-flying event planner in Houston, who considers herself the family’s future; and Seema, a dreamy idealist turned bored housewife languishing in the privileged hills of Los Angeles. And then there’s the other granddaughter, Bita, a disillusioned law student spending her days in New York trying to find deeper meaning by giving away her worldly belongings.
When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail by Bita, the family’s brittle upper class veneer is cracked wide open. Soon, Shirin must embark upon a grand quest to restore the family name to its former glory. But what does that mean in a country where the Valiats never even mattered? Can they bring their old inheritance into a new tomorrow together?
Spanning from 1940s Iran into a splintered 2000s, these five women are pulled apart and brought together by revolutions personal and political. The Persians is a darkly funny, deeply moving and profoundly searching portrait of a unique family in crisis. Here is their past, their present and a possible new future for them all.
‘Filled with heartbreak, humour, and so much love’ VANESSA CHAN
‘A very brilliant, very special book’ JESSICA STANLEY
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Imprint: Fourth Estate UK
Publication date: 05/03/2025
The Persians
By Sanam Mahloudji
Review by Claudia
Bita bails her Auntie Shirin out of jail in Aspen. To Bita, the looming charges are a major problem. Shirin, on the other hand, insists they go shopping. Maman Elizabeth is getting on alright back in Iran, but her other granddaughter Niaz is beginning to suspect she has not been told the entire story about her mother’s escape from the Islamic Revolution. And then there is Seema, wondering always if she is destined to be as bad at motherhood as her mother, Elizabeth.
The Persians is a novel that will not behave- much like Auntie Shirin! Five women from a wealthy Iranian family take turns in the spotlight for this intergenerational story. The reader is shown Elizabeth’s girlhood in pre-revolution Iran; Shirin and Seema navigating a conspicuously wealthy slice of American society that keeps them on the fringes; and Niaz and Bita in the boondocks of youthful discontent. Mahloudji explores how each character copes with their unique sense of unrest, and how they come to understand how precious their family is.
My favourite part of the book was watching Niaz covertly rebel against The Government of the Islamic Republic. The chapters on her experience as a teenager and a university student were intense. Affairs of the heart motivate both Maman Elizabeth and her granddaughter Niaz with varying degrees of success. The intimacy described and the treatment of First Love was both relatable and fresh, I audibly “aww”-ed and at other times wanted to shout, “yes!” The Valiat family fortune and social network has saved Niaz’s life more than once – but should covert resistance to the culture police be only for the rich and bored in Iran? Her grandmother Elizabeth was an artist and the granddaughter of one of Iran’s heroes – but freedom to live her life as she wished it vanished long before the revolution of 1979.
I enjoyed this novel because of the strength of the characters. Mahloudji brings something vivid and fresh to the contemporary novel form here. The more I read, the more I wanted to read. I was thrilled to see it shortlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction!
