The Evin Prison Bakers' Club - by Sepideh Gholian (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

16 recipes testifying to the sisterhood and solidarity forged in the most notorious prisons in Iran

'A remarkable testimony to women's bravery, compassion and solidarity in the harshest of conditions... Think Nigella crossed with Nelson Mandela.' SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK

'A fighting woman cannot be imprisoned because her voice is louder than prison walls. This book is proof.' Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner

How do you cheer up a woman who has spent hours cleaning prison toilets with a broken mop? The secret is in a tres leches cake. In Iran's prisons, women endure horrors: they are beaten, interrogated, and humiliated in a thousand ways. Even a whisper to a fellow inmate can be punished. Yet - in spite of anything and everything - they resist: they bake. They console each other, cry together, dance together.

Sepideh Gholian, in prison since 2018, bakes scones, pumpkin pies and madeleines, alongside traditional Iranian sweets. The Evin Prison Bakers' Club is a call to stand up for Woman, Life, Freedom by a woman still fighting for a free Iran.

Review Quotes

'Unusual, haunting... The Evin Prison Bakers' Club is part memoir, part exposé, and part cookbook.' The New Yorker

'Sepideh Gholian's account of life on the women's wards in Bushehr and Evin prisons is a blindsiding blend of horrifying concrete detail, dizzying surrealism and wild optimism.' Guardian, Book of the Day

'A remarkable testimony to women's bravery, compassion and solidarity in the harshest of conditions... Think Nigella crossed with Nelson Mandela.' SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK

'The book is proof of Gholian's triumphant resistance against a regime that wants her silenced, and a powerful message of hope for the future.' Observer

'A fighting woman cannot be imprisoned because her voice is louder than prison walls. This book is proof.' Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner

'It is sometimes hard to believe Sepideh Gholian is still under thirty since she has accomplished so much as a labor journalist and civic activist. So many of us admire her for fearlessly standing up to the dictatorship in Iran... A breathtaking writerly talent. Sepideh is emblematic of a generation of Iranians who refuse to give up in their quest for justice.' Arash Azizi, author of What Iranians Want

'My heart broke while reading this book, but it also gave me hope. I read this book filled with outrage against the system that has put Sepideh Gholian and so many like her in jail, torturing them, killing them. But I was filled with hope, amazed by and thankful for those like her, telling the story. They are our beloved guardians of truth.' Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran

About the Author

Sepideh Gholian is an Iranian journalist and activist, currently in Evin Prison. She was arrested on 18 November 2018 during a strike by the workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Complex, and was severely tortured in detention. In 2023, a video of her removing her hijab and calling for the downfall of Khamenei went viral.