Description: "At the age of twenty, Sheyda Porrouya's life is almost over. She was born in Iran on the day staunchly orthodox mullas declared the birth of the Islamic Republic and set about summarily purging the country of all things Western and un-Islamic. When the Regime shut down universities, Sheyda's father, who had been an ambitious law student, ended up as a load-lifter. To make matters worse, as she matured Sheyda seemed increasingly unable to distinguish between fairy tale and reality. She began to exhibit disturbing behavior. Her pious mother began to believe that her daughter was possessed and so, seeking a divine cure, she visited shrine after shrine. Almost everyone suspects that she is deranged, everyone except her lifelong therapist, Dr. Fereydoon, and a beautiful black-eyed cripple who lives next door. They don't think she's crazy, but they know she's not sane either. When Sheyda is accused of killing her mother, she is immediately jailed and sentenced to death by hanging. The narrative jumps back and forth from Sheyda's childhood to her current life in one of Iran's most notorious prisons, where she awaits either release or execution."--
Review Quotes:
As the novel opens, Sheyda has just been sentenced to death for the murder of her mother. Her mood is fatalistic, her tears ones of happiness. Ava Farmehri grew up in the Middle East before coming to Canada. The arresting title is a quote from Dante's Inferno.
--Toronto Star