“She moved to the kitchen window that looked out over the garden and for a moment watched the sprinkle of stars in the limitless Tehran sky. Though lyricism generally makes way for character, it reasserts itself most often in relation to the landscape: The use of space and distance not only orients the reader, but acts as its own symbolism-Pahlavi Street, the mountains, and the distant Caspian Sea all resonate with characters as meaningful markers in their lives. Regardless, its inexorable movements carry them along with it, one and all. The rapidly shifting political climate sometimes elates characters, sometimes makes them angry or despondent. Cultural and personal mythologies of the Alborz Mountains and the Simorgh (great phoenix) thread through the narrative as a complex motif that incorporates wonder, danger, and smallness in a vast universe. Though the story is told through many perspectives and over a long stretch of time, it is united by certain themes. The story mixes humour with tragedy, beauty with pain nuances abound in its lifelike evocations of character, place, and situation. Hozar’s deft and visual style captures the atmosphere of mid-20 th century Tehran and the surrounding landscape. As Aria grows, the political situation in Iran shifts and changes drastically over two decades, sweeping her and others’ lives in a powerful current. Shirazi-whose role is larger than she originally anticipates. Later, she is adopted by the rich and generous Fereshteh and leads a privileged life in which the primary source of contention is her compulsory service helping a certain Mrs. When she is rescued from the street by Behrouz, an army driver, his discontented wife Zahra becomes her mother. The book is divided into three parts, one for each mother figure in Aria’s life. Nazanine Hozar’s debut novel Aria (Knopf, 2019) follows not only protagonist Aria as she grows up in a society stratified by religion, class, and gender, but also a varied cast of others whose lives intersect with hers.

Found by a man who will become her adoptive father, her life is spared and her saga begins. In the years prior to the Iranian revolution, a baby girl is abandoned in an alleyway in Tehran.

Nazanine hozar aria