Aria - by Nazanine Hozar (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

It is the 1950s in a restless Iran, a country rich in oil but deeply divided by class and religion. The government is unpopular and corrupt and under foreign sway. One night, an illiterate army driver hears the pitiful cry of a baby abandoned in an alley and menaced by ravenous wild dogs. He snatches up the child and takes her home, naming her Aria--the first step on an unlikely path from deprivation to privilege.

Over the next two decades, the orphan girl acquires three mother figures whose secrets she will learn only much later: reckless and self-absorbed Zahra, who abuses her; wealthy and compassionate Fereshteh, who adopts her; and mysterious Mehri, whose connection to Aria is both a blessing and a burden. Nazanine Hozar's stunning debut gives us an unusually intimate view of a momentous time, through the eyes of a young woman coming to terms with the mysteries of her own past and future.

Review Quotes

"A sweeping saga about the Iranian revolution as it explodes. . . . A Doctor Zhivago of Iran."
--Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale

"A feminist odyssey. . . . A poised and dramatic historical novel with contemporary relevance."
--John Irving, author of The World According to Garp

"A beautiful book set against the pains and passions of the Iranian Revolution . . . It is a book about a particular time and place yet also, and perhaps more importantly, about the common hopes and intimate longings of lives so forcibly invaded by national events."
--Hisham Matar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return

"Cinematic."
--The Vancouver Sun

"Nazanine Hozar's immaculate first novel follows a group of Iranians in the lead-up to the 1979 revolution and marks the arrival of a major new voice."
--The Observer (London)

"A page-turner. . . . Through accessible language, [Hozar] vividly captures the feel of alleyways, courtyards, markets and overlapping experiences and faiths. . . . Hozar spent a decade researching and writing Aria, and it shows."
--Now Toronto

"Hugely enjoyable."
--The Guardian (London)

"The beauty of multiplicity is central to Nazanine Hozar's debut novel, Aria, which tracks the events leading up to, and human impulses behind, the Iranian revolution. . . . An alluring and enlightening read."
--The Irish Times

"[An] operatic debut novel. . . . Lacing cultural, political, and religious conflicts into the dramatic and tumultuous lives of her entangled characters, Hozar reveals the complexities of Iran's glories and tragedies."
--Booklist

"An impressive fiction debut . . . vibrant, unsettling. . . . An engrossing tale that reveals a nation's fraught history."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author