The Lion Women of Tehran
Marjan Kamali
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 327 Pages (Hardcover)
Audiobook: 10 Hours, 29 Minutes
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Get More Info: Goodreads | Storygraph
Have you read The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali?
Publisher’s Description
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 by Marjan Kamali 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.
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali is published by Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster).
Content Advisory
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali contains mentions of sexual assault.
About Marjan Kamali
Marjan Kamali is the national and international bestselling author of The Lion Women of Tehran (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), The Stationery Shop (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), and Together Tea (EccoBooks/HarperCollins). She is a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. Kamali’s novels are published in translation in more than 25 languages. Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Literary Hub, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Kamali holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Columbia University, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from New York University. Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, Kamali spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the U.S. She now lives in the Boston area with her family (Goodreads, 2025).
Read more about Marjan Kamali here.
Featured In
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali is featured in the following posts:
Follow Slay the Page on Pinterest
We love connecting with you – and we love Pinterest! For more like The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali, follow Slay the Page on Pinterest here.