But there is political trouble in the air. While the Prime Ministerwas elected democratically, Iran was ruled by Kings. Known as 'Shahs of Iran' they expected the Prime Minister to kowtow to their wishes But the then Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh refused to do that and on the other hand wanted to curtail the power of the Shahs and make Iran a true democracy.
The love between Roya and Bahman blossoms in the Stationery Shop owned by Mr.Ali Fakhri, an old man still young at heart. He facilitates love affairs between young people.
His stationery shop is where they come to have that few minutes of privacy and intimacy. The boys and girls exchange their love through letters hidden in books that Ali passes on. Ali is the conduit that ensures space and continuity in love.The Tehran of 50s was a young city, fancy free and full of fun. Roya and Bahman are madly in love with each other. They are both interested in poetry of Rumi. They walk hand in hand in the streets of Tehran. They go for dances and frequent coffee shops. They sip coffee from shared cup sitting in the cosy corner in coffee shops. They are young, the country is young and they are in love.
Bahman formally asks Roya's father for her hand in marriage. Baba, a progressive Iranian who considered daughters equal to sons, agreed wholeheartedly. Roya and Bahman were engaged to be married. It also helped that Bahman was a member of National Front, the resistance supporting the democratically elected Prime Minister whom Baba also supported.
As the political situation escalated, there are news of daily clashes between supporters of Prime Minister and those supporting Shah. Roya worries about Bahman.
One day Bahman disappears. A worried Roya tries to talk to Ali Fakhri, who she is convinced, knows about his whereabouts. Mr.Fakhri refuses to tell anything to Roya. One day he hands her a letter from Bahman. He writes that he was taking care of his ailing mother and given the political turmoil, he feels that it is best they get married as soon as possible. He asks her to come to Sepah Square, where he will meet her and both of them can go to the Office of Registrar of Marriages can formally get married.
Roya is thrilled. On the appointed day she reaches the Sepah Square. The situation at the Square is volatile, with supporters of the PM and the police facing off each other. Bahman is nowhere to be found. As the situation escalates, Roya becomes frantic. Just then she sees Mr.Fakhri in the crowd. He sees her and comes near her. He tries to hold her and say something, but Roya pushes him and moves away from him. Just as he tries to tell her something, Fakhri is shot by the police.
While people around tries to resuscitate Fakhri, Roya edges away and goes back to her house.
A couple of days later, she receives a letter from Bahman calling off the engagement. She does not know what to do. She goes into a depression.
Baba, her father is worried that Iran is becoming dangerous for his daughters. Through his boss, he comes to know of an American University offering scholarship to Iranian girls to pursue higher days. He asks his daughters to apply for this opportunity.
Seeing that they have no future in Iran, Roya and her sister apply for and are accepted for the program.
The book now moves into the next phase of Roya's life. She is focused only on studies. She has no interest in romance. One day while sitting in a coffee shop near the university, she meets Walter. Gradually she and Walter falls in love and get married.
Tragedy was not done with Roya. She lose her first daughter, Marigold to an illness. Roya is 28 and is very depressed. But Walter is the most sympathetic husband. He supports and sustains as she goes through this terrible period in her life.
Roya has lost all her passion. She used to love Iranian Cooking. Now she hardly prepares anything fancy. Not even the arrival of her son, Kyle, rekindles the passion of her youth.
Years pass. One day while accompanying Walter for a routine medical examination, Roya goes to a nearby library. She is looking for some original Persian poetry. The librarian tells her that a stationery shop downtown has a number of such books.
As fate has it, it takes her to that part of the town on some other errand. On an impulse she decides to check the stationery shop recommended by the librarian.
As she enters the shop, she can't believe her eyes. The shop is set exactly like the one that she used to frequent in Tehran. When she saw the owner, he looked exactly like Bahman. The owner tells her that the shop was arranged in this way based on the wishes of his father Bahman Aslan.
Roya feels tizzy. She cannot believe what she is hearing. Where is his father now? she wants to know. He tells her that his father is in a Center for the Assisted Living in a nearby town.
After she comes home, she calls the center and fixes an appointment to meet Bahman.
She wants to settle scores with Bahman for leaving her in the lurch at Sepah Square and running away like a coward. She wants to tell him that she forgives him for all that he has done to her.
They meet. She is angry. When she tells him that she forgives him for not coming to Sepah Square, he tells her that he had asked her to meet at Baharestan Square at a different part of the town. He had waited for her there and since she did not turn up, he was very agitated and left. After a few days he had received a letter from her cancelling her engagement with him as she could not 'Put up with his mother'. When she told him about the letter that she received from him, about his wanting to marry another woman, he said that he never wrote such a letter.
He also tells her that he has always been in love with her.
It is obvious that someone had edited the letters that each had written to the other.
Who did it? Why? What was the motive? What happened in those few days that permanently altered the lives of two teenagers who were madly in love with each other? Who were perfect for each other in every way?
Soon Roya hears the news that Bahman is critical. She goes to meet him. As he lay unconscious on the bed, she climbs on the bed and lies there for an hour holding him close to her. Ms.Kamali handles their reunion in a beautiful and sensitive manner.
In the evening, Bahman passes away.
The book subtly and oh, so sensitively explores Roya's mind as she realizes that Bahman was always in love with her. Coming back from the memorial service, it is as if a weight has been lifted off Roya. The knowledge of Bahman's love lifted all the
tension that had built in in her sensitive mind for over forty years. She brings Claire to her home and for the first time after many years, prepared khoresh-e-gheymeh for her family
As I read the last two chapters, I was crying. My throat choked up and tears were flowing from my eyes. I couldn't continue reading it. I just kept the book down, went away for some time. I came back and started reading it and started crying again. Fortunately I was sitting alone in my home and no one saw me crying.
Like an ice cream embellished with golden brown almonds, the evocative story of teenage love is embellished with the delectable aroma of the Persian Cuisine. Roya has learned the art of cooking from her maman. She handpicks the freshest of ingredients and the most aromatic of the spices from the market. Be it preparing Jeweled Rice, thick aush soup or her mother's ghormeh sabzi stew, no detail of the cooking process misses her.
The author uses Persian cooking as a proxy to Roya's emotional state
of mind. When she is happy she enjoys elaborate cooking. When she is
sad, she goes for bacon, ham and burgers. For over forty years after the passing away of her daughter she had given up on cooking. The author brilliantly shows the renewal of Roya through her renewed her interest in cooking her favourite Persian item.
The book is also about triumph of women everywhere. Bestowed with equal intellect, they have to fight hidden and open challenges every day. There is a line in the book that says 'Maman was right, of course, but she had to accept Baba's decision because he was a man'. That sums it up.
The story is a paean to the eternal teenage love. Shakespeare wrote about it in Romeo and Juliet, Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi wrote about the love between Laila and Majnu (Layla and Majnun). Teenage love never dies. It lives with you, it lives through you, no matter how time has passed and what happened in between. Much like water, teenage love flows over the obstacles.
There are multiple subplots in the story. There is a story of the love between Ali Fakiri and Bahman’s mother. There is another story of Claire, the clerk at the Center for Assisted Living. Much like an expert weaver Ms.Kamali neatly ties the subplots and weaves a brilliant story.
You realize the power of a great story only after you finish it. While you are reading it, the twists and turns keep you hooked in the story and finally when they all come together in a brilliant symphony, you realize it was all worth it.
Reading this book had that effect on me.
My review in Good Reads
The Stationery Shop by Marjan KamaliMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Marjan Kamali has written a Tour-de-force of a novel about the love between Roya and Bahman. The story is set in Tehran of the 50s, a period where the country was going through political chaos. This is the story of love, betrayal and ultimate redemption. Author weaves a brilliant tale, filled with multiple threads and all of them coming together in a synchronized symphony leaving the reader emotionally exhausted.
The author brilliantly embellishes the story with Persian Cuisine, it is almost like cuisine is a living and breathing character in the story. Persian cuisine is a proxy for Roya's emotional state. When she is happy she is excited about cooking exotic Persian Food. For many years Roya had not cooked any exotic food. In the final scene with all the weight having been lifted off her, she goes back to cooking her favourite food.
Brilliant.
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