A Review By Frances Smith

In contrast to the imagined reaction to coming to England and the strangeness of the country as depicted in “Mr Rosenblum’s List”, Shappi Khorsandi came to England when she was about four.  She describes in painful detail the horrors that can be visited on a small, confused child by an unsympathetic and unthinking teacher.  Fortunately her father or “baba” is a wonderful father who dotes on his wife and children and after a few days of watching his little daughter come home distraut from nursery school, he decided that enough was enough, and little Shaparak and her brother, Peyvand, changed schools.  From then on Shaparak was much happier, enjoyed most of her time at school and eventually became the successful comedienne we know, frequently seen at the Edinburgh festival and on TV.

 This is a really well-written and evocative book.  It describes life in pre-revolutionary Iran and the devastating effect of civil war on ordinary families who just want to get on with their lives.  It also underlines very clearly the importance of love and support from family and friends.  The Khorsandis suffered death threats, were cut off from their relatives in Iran and denied their Iranian nationality, but they have come through it all to lead successful and fulfilled lives in Britain.  Much of the story reflects a love of food, and descriptions of meals and the smell of cooking add a third dimension to the domestic scenes in the book.  I learned a lot about Iran and its history and some of the cullinary descrptions had my mouth watering.   A wonderful book, highly recommended.

 

Frances