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The Stationery Shop: A Novel
From the award-nominated author of Together Tea and The Lion Women of Tehran, a poignant, "powerful" (The Wall Street Journal) and "affecting novel about first love" (Real Simple) that explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.
Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.
Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.
A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?
Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.
Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.
A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?
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Community Reviews
In the “enhance your book club” section of this book, The Stationery Shop is compared to a Nicholas Sparks’s novel. It’s true that this is more a romance novel than an historical fiction novel which may be why I was a little disappointed.
What an incredible story. So far, this is the best book I've read this year. I loved the setting in Iran and learning more about the overthrow of a democratically elected prime minister in the 1950s, and his replacement by the shah who catered to the West and those who controlled oil. It is told through the eyes of two young people who are deeply in love, but torn apart by circumstances beyond their control.
The main character, Roya, is a young lady who falls in love with a young man, Bahman, that she meets in a stationery shop. Fahkri, the owner, acts as a go-between and helps the couple communicate by placing their letters in the books they read. They plan to meet in a town square and get married, but Bahman does not show up. Instead, Roya receives a letter telling her he has changed his mind and is marrying someone else, a girl his mother had picked for him.
Roya goes to the U.S. for education and meets and marries an American. Nearly 60 years later, she finds Bahman in a nursing home and discovers the truth behind his disappearance. He always loved her, but his mother and Fakri had conspired to prevent the young couple from marrying. It is heartbreaking that this couple who loved each other so much were kept apart. Bahman dies shortly after Roya finds him, but she is with him when he dies.
The main character, Roya, is a young lady who falls in love with a young man, Bahman, that she meets in a stationery shop. Fahkri, the owner, acts as a go-between and helps the couple communicate by placing their letters in the books they read. They plan to meet in a town square and get married, but Bahman does not show up. Instead, Roya receives a letter telling her he has changed his mind and is marrying someone else, a girl his mother had picked for him.
Roya goes to the U.S. for education and meets and marries an American. Nearly 60 years later, she finds Bahman in a nursing home and discovers the truth behind his disappearance. He always loved her, but his mother and Fakri had conspired to prevent the young couple from marrying. It is heartbreaking that this couple who loved each other so much were kept apart. Bahman dies shortly after Roya finds him, but she is with him when he dies.
THE STATIONERY SHOP is an entertaining way to learn Iranian history. The reader will be introduced to two coups, one of the politically progressive Prime Minister and 25 years later of the status quo Shah, and to glimpses of the Iran-Iraqi War. But while Marjan Kamali is a very good storyteller she is not a top-tier writer. The sad love story caused me to cry my eyes out several times but in between the bawling, I was rolling my eyes at the soapy predictable plot lines. This is chick-lit at its best, great for women's groups because of the corny love story.
This was such an excellent book that I will forever love. The story of roya and baham was so beautiful and sad and heartbreaking
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