The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali is a novel that sweeps across the decades-long lives of Elaheh “Ellie” Soltani and Homa Roozbeh, childhood friends from entirely different worlds who first meet in Tehran at the age of seven. Their bond is immediate, their lives deeply entangled. Yet, the years keep pulling them apart and drawing them back together, over and over again. All of this unfolds against the blazing, volatile backdrop of the Iranian Revolution and its complicated aftermath.

Kamali weaves in rich themes throughout the book: social class, feminism, women’s rights, political activism, and the immigrant experience while also offering an intimate window into Iranian life and culture. Tehran carries much of the story through the 50s and 60s, before the narrative expands to include the United States as both Ellie and Homa’s lives stretch beyond their homeland.

I have to admit that the opening pages did not hook me. The emotional connection I usually latch onto right away took a little longer to arrive. But as I pushed through, I found myself drown into the story. The sheer bravery and inner strength that Kamali was carefully building into these women became impossible to ignore. Ellie and Homa gradually became living, breathing portraits of everything women have always fought for, and continue to fight for, especially in places where doing so comes at a great personal cost.

Friendship. Family. Politics. Country. This book holds all of it firmly. It is immersive and thought-provoking in equal measure, telling a story soaked in courage, healing, empathy, forgiveness, and the long, hard road to acceptance.

The further I read, the more the book revealed its true strength. The characters deepened. The conflicts sharpened. The plot found its footing. And alongside all of that, the prose itself grew more and more beautiful Words that didn’t just tell the story but carried it, like a current running just beneath the surface.

The peak of that beauty is the final page.

I was fully prepared to give this book four stars. And then the last page happened. Specifically, the last few sentences:

“I wish for you not the world, nor the owning of it, nor even success in it. I wish for you the ability to be free. And I hope that you experience some moments so tender and dear that they make up for a thousand harsh ones. Remember above all to always love. Love madly.”

Those sentences stopped me completely. I put the book down, picked up my Hobonichi, and wrote them straight into the Words to Remember section.

If I could borrow one wish for the rest of my own life, it would be this one. Freedom—real, full, unencumbered freedom—is the foundation of everything good. When we have our health, our stability, our safety, our ability to move through the world on our own terms, we have already been handed something extraordinary. And yet, how often do we forget that?

That wish is the reason The Lion Women of Tehran earns a full five out of five.

My Favorite Bits

• “Lionesses. Us. Can’t you just see it Ellie? Someday, you and me — we’ll do great things. We’ll live life for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who will make things happen.”

• I was someone entirely new and exhausting.

• If the revolution succeeds, what if what follows is worse?

• I focus on surviving not one day at a time, but often an hour or even one moment at a time. It is the only way I can keep from drowning in sorrow.

• We are tired. Tired of the many ways we are continually told to shut up and obey. Tired of being worried about constant arrest because a strand or two of our hair might peek out. Because a patch of our skin might show. Tired above all —above all in God’s almighty planet-of being bombed. Night after night after night.

• “It was books. I read and read. Went to the library as much as I could. And to bookstores. Lost myself in books. Did you know that books can heal you? They helped restore me.”

• I recently read a theory about ocean waves. This theory says that while to our eyes waves appear suddenly on the shore, their abruptness is an illusion. Waves begin their journey thousands of miles out at sea. They accumulated shape and power from winds and undersea currents for ages.

• I wish for you not the world, nor the owning of it, nor even success in it. I wish for you the ability to be free. And I hope that you experience some moments so tender and dear that they make up for a thousand harsh ones. Remember above all to always love. Love madly.

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Author: Marjan Kamali
Publication date: 2 July 2024
Number of pages: 327 pages

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