Marsha Mehran
An International Bestseller!
Rights sold in Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and the U.K.
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Pomegranate Soup
a novel
by Marsha Mehran
“Heart- and stomach-warming….. Mehran's lighthearted voice will win readers over.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Fans of Chocolat and other cooking-overcomes- cultural-differences stories will savor the tale, not to mention the 13 recipes, including one for pomegranate soup.”
– Publishers Weekly
“Few novels have such charm, such fusion. Marsha Mehran takes one of the great staples of literature, food and its creation, and makes it the vehicle of a delightful, subtle fairytale. With a deep understanding of opposites such as whimsy and poignancy, she delivers a moving and very amusing enquiry into whether differences between peoples exist at all."
– Frank Delaney, author of Ireland and The Celts
"An enchanting tale of love, family and renewal that illuminates the magical qualities of Persian cuisine."
– Firoozeh Dumas, Funny in Farsi
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Beneath the holy mountain Croagh Patrick, in damp and charming County Mayo, sits the small, sheltered village of Ballinacroagh, a land of "crazed sheep and dizzying roads." To Marjan Aminpour, who fled the Iranian Revolution seven years ago with her younger sisters, Bahar and Layla, it seems like a much-needed safe haven, and from the kitchen of an old pastry shop in town, the sisters set about creating a Persian oasis. Soon, sensuous wafts of cardamom, cinnamon and saffron float through the streets—an exotic aroma that announces the opening of the Babylon Café, and a shock to a town that generally subsists on boiled cabbage and Guinness served at the local tavern.
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Marsha Mehran’s POMEGRANATE SOUP (Random House; On Sale Date: August 2, 2005) follows the Aminpour sisters as they try to become part of the community, coaxing customers into the café and side-stepping the town bully, Thomas McGuire, who has always dreamed of turning the old pastry shop into a discotheque, and is enraged to find it newly occupied—by foreigners, no less.
But the mysterious, spicy fragrances work their magic on the townsfolk, and soon, business is booming. Marjan is thrilled with the demand for her red lentil soup, abgusht stew and rosewater-infused baklava—and with the transformation in her sisters: young Layla finds first love, and even tense, haunted Bahar seems to be less nervous. And in the stand-up-comedian-turned-priest Father Fergal Mahoney, the gentle, lonely widow Estelle Delmonico, and the headstrong hairdresser Fiona Athey, the sisters find a merry band of supporters against the closed-minded opposition of less welcoming neighbors. But the idyll is soon broken when the past rushes back to threaten the Amnipours once more, and the lives they left back in revolution-era Iran begin to bleed into the present.
POMEGRANATE SOUP is already a best-seller in Europe, and rights have been sold in 13 countries around the world. Part displacement story, part comedy of errors, and part love story, Mehran’s debut novel is infused with the textures and scents of both Iran and Ireland. The richly detailed story, complemented by authentic Persian recipes at the beginning of each chapter, stirs up a magical-realistic journey to a small town, as it is transformed from the unfamiliar into a home.
About the author
Born in Tehran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution, Marsha Mehran escaped the upheaval with her family for the southern shores of Argentina, where her parents set up a Middle Eastern café on the tango streets of Buenos Aires. She now lives in New York with her Irish husband, who is constantly called upon to taste her experimental cooking.
Visit Marsha at www.marshamehran.com.
POMEGRANATE SOUP: A Novelï Marsha Mehran ï Random House
On Sale: August 2, 2005 ï Publication Date: August 9, 2005 ï ISNB: 1-4000-6241-1 ï $23.95