Lion Women of Tehran — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Marjan Kamali
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 327

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): An “evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran—from nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

“Reminiscent of The Kite Runner and My Brilliant Friend, The Lion Women of Tehran is a mesmerizing tale” (BookPage) of love and courage, and a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young.

First Impressions

This was a book club pick but I was unable to attend book club. Decided to read it on my own time. I was honestly a little hesitant about this pick and would not have picked it up off the shelf myself.

What I thought

This book was such a pleasant surprise!

Ellie is growing up in Iran in the 1950’s-1960’s. When her father dies, she and her mother are forced to leave their large home for the slum neighborhoods where she meets her best friend Homa. When Ellie moves back to the rich side of town, she and Homa lose touch until she shows up at Ellie’s high school. The story follows the two girls as they deal with the trials of friendship, womanhood, and political upheaval of Iran.

I was worried that this book was going to be really heavy and slow and it was not. Sometimes when dealing with heavier topics, these types of books can come off preachy but I never felt that way. Even though Ellie was frustrating a lot of the time, I couldn’t fault her. She was naïve and a lot of her actions were explained by her upraising.

I loved all of the relationships in this book. The friendship between Ellie and Homa was so interesting to see how it developed over time and maturity. I also adored Mehrdad and Abdol as well as Ellie’s high school friends Noomi and Sousana. Of course, her relationship with her mother was a bit tough but it felt realistic.

I did talk about the book briefly with one of the other book club members and we talked about how this book sparked curiosity about the Iranian revolution and taught us things we didn’t know before. I appreciated the history about the political activism in the country because the Iran we know now is so starkly different from the Iran of the 1970s.