Product Description

“Mehran’s novel delights the senses on every page. The story pulses with life as three Iranian sisters struggle to make sense of matters of the heart and the spirit.”
–Elizabeth Cox, author of The Slow Moon

More than a year has passed since Marjan, Bahar, and Layla, the beautiful Iranian Aminpour sisters, sought refuge in the quaint Irish town of Ballinacroagh. Opening the beguiling Babylon Café, they charmed the locals with their warm hearts and delectable Persian cuisine, bringing a saffron-scented spice to the once-sleepy village.

But when a young woman with a dark secret literally washes up on Clew Bay Beach, the sisters’ world is once again turned upside down. With pale skin and webbed hands, the girl is otherworldly, but her wounds tell a more earthly (and graver) story–one that sends the strict Catholic town into an uproar. The Aminpours rally around the newcomer, but each sister must also contend with her own transformation–Marjan tests her feelings for love with a dashing writer, Bahar takes on a new spiritual commitment with the help of Father Mahoney, and Layla matures into a young woman when she and her boyfriend, Malachy, step up their hot and heavy relationship.

Filled with mouthwatering recipes and enchanting details of life in Ireland, Rosewater and Soda Bread is infused with a lyrical warmth that radiates from the Aminpour family and their big-hearted Italian landlady, Estelle, to the whole of Ballinacroagh–and the world beyond.


Praise for Marsha Mehran’s Pomegranate Soup

“A mouthwatering tale with flavors of Chocolat and Under the Tuscan Sun . . . sinfully sweet and satisfying.”
–Orlando Sentinel

“Glorious, daring, and delightful, filled with humor, hope, and possibility.”
–Adriana Trigiani, author of the Big Stone Gap novels

“An enchanting tale of love, family, and renewal.”
–Firoozeh Dumas, author of Laughing Without an Accent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293185 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-13
• Released on: 2008-05-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780812972498
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Mehran's second novel (after Pomegranate Soup) resumes the story of three Iranian sisters making their lives anew in smalltown Ireland. Beautiful and creative Marjan Aminpour cares for her younger sisters, Bahar and Layla; together the three run Babylon Cafe, and few locals can resist its charms or the amiability of its proprietresses. Although Marjan rules the roost, her sisters have secrets of their own, and their growing independence forces Marjan to allow them their freedom and confront her own needs—especially after she meets handsome Julian Winthrop Muir. As Marjan gives her sisters more space, the suspicious and xenophobic local busybody Dervla Quigley remains determined to uncover whatever foul play the foreign women have up their sleeves. And when Marjan's friend Estelle reveals that she has rescued and helped a drowning girl, Marjan becomes involved in a secret that soon has Dervla plotting their downfall. Gourmands will savor the foodie passages (recipes, of course, are included), while the sisters' exploits will win over readers into lighter fare about making a new home and growing up. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Mehran resumes the tale of the Aminpour sisters so vividly portrayed in Pomegranate Soup (2006). The three refugee Iranian young women have now become fixtures in the Irish hamlet of Ballinacroagh, where they run a popular café serving fine Persian food to plain-eating Celtic townsfolk. Thanks to articles written by a local newspaperman, their little eatery has garnered national notice. The women’s quotidian contentment gets upended when a rural widow reports finding a girl bleeding and wounded on the beach. This waif’s odd webbed fingers make her seem a virtual mermaid. Mehran offers insights into the nascent nation of Asian and South European immigrants seeking futures in the Emerald Isle. As these outlanders gain recognition, the native population reacts ambivalently. For all their robust living, Mehran’s Irish are a familiar and universal mix of libido and repression, piety and profanity, xenophobia and generosity. --Mark Knoblauch

About the Author
Born in Tehran, Iran, Marsha Mehran escaped the Revolution with her family. She has since lived in such diverse places as Buenos Aires, The United States, Australia and Ireland. Her first novel, Pomegranate Soup was an international bestseller. She lives in New York, where she is busy spinning more tales.

Customer Reviews

A tasty appetizer for it lacks the sustenance of an entree
After a very promising start, the book fizzled a bit because the author didn't resolve many of the storylines. As the title says, this is a novel about three sisters (Marjan, Bahar, and Layla), two countries (Ireland and Iran), and the language of food.

The author pulled off the language of food (including restorative and medicinal properties), and there are 8 tasty sounding recipes from Ireland or Iran at the end of the book. The portraits of Ireland and Iran while slightly incomplete were well painted. The three sisters are realistically presented, each with their own backstory, personality, and dreams.

The problem is that many of the secondary characters drawn into the story simply disappear. I'm not sure if Ms. Mehran didn't know how to end it, became bored a little over half way through, was told by her publisher that she was out of pages, or intends to write a sequel, but for whatever reason it all kind of just ended. You know how you're never supposed to resolve a problem by having the character wake up? Well, the resolution to this story's problem stopped just one step shy of this. The girl left (I don't want to give anything away so I'll leave this rather vague statement at that), and all of the people inconvenienced, jeopordized, or in trouble with the law are left hanging out there with the reader left to guess whether they're still in trouble or everything was miraculously resolved.

Is it worth reading? Well, I enjoyed it up until the end and it whet my appetite for more facts about Ireland, Iran, Ireland's merrow or Iran's Baraka, and especially Iranian food, but the reader should beware getting caught up in the side stories for they will probably be left with more questions than answers.

Warm and Sunny
The book is like hot tea, you have to sip it slowly and not gulp it down at one go. One of those books which, if you just look at the content, is not anything special but leaves a "feel good" aftertaste. I read her first book "Pomegranate Soup and enjoyed it and now after reading this one I am a fan

I haven't read Pomegranate Soup...
..but I still really enjoyed this book. There is nothing on the cover of this book (at least the Australian version) which indicates it is a sequel. So when I found this out I wasn't sure if I should read the first book before this one. I decided not to, and found that I still enjoyed the story, the plot made sense and it just didn't seem to be an issue. This book was easy to read - I only read of an evening and I finished it in 3 or 4 days. Now I can't wait to read the previous book to find out what happened to the sisters before Rosewater and Soda Bread.