The Persians
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By Sanam Mahloudji
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1 review
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025
A riotously funny and deeply moving debut novel following five women from three generations of a once illustrious Iranian family as their lives are turned upside down.
Meet the women of the Valiat family. In Iran, they were somebodies. In America, they’re nobodies.
First there is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch with the famously large nose, who remained in Tehran despite the revolution. She lives alone in a shabby apartment except when she is visited by Niaz, her young, Islamic-law-breaking granddaughter, who takes her partying with a side of purpose, and somehow manages to survive. Across the ocean in America, Elizabeth’s daughters have built new lives for themselves. There’s Shirin, a charismatic and flamboyantly high-flying event planner in Houston, who considers herself the family’s future; and Seema, a dreamy idealist turned bored housewife languishing in the privileged hills of Los Angeles. And then there’s the other granddaughter, Bita, a disillusioned law student spending her days in New York trying to find deeper meaning by giving away her worldly belongings.
When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail by Bita, the family’s brittle upper class veneer is cracked wide open. Soon, Shirin must embark upon a grand quest to restore the family name to its former glory. But what does that mean in a country where the Valiats never even mattered? Can they bring their old inheritance into a new tomorrow together?
Spanning from 1940s Iran into a splintered 2000s, these five women are pulled apart and brought together by revolutions personal and political. The Persians is a darkly funny, deeply moving and profoundly searching portrait of a unique family in crisis. Here is their past, their present and a possible new future for them all.
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Michelle Wales, Chwaeroniaeth
The Valiats are not nice!, privileged, self-centred, unkind, unloving members of the Shah of Persia ruling elite, fifty pages in, I thoroughly disliked the actions and values of all the characters. I felt unwilling to read further but luckily persevered.
The book for me illustrated the snobbery and chronic class system of the old Persia and the ongoing restrictions to women within the current Islamic Iranian regime, both societies held challenges for women and the necessity to conform to what they believed was expected of women.
In old Persia the Valiat’s were on top of the class feeding pyramid, holding great power and influence descendants of the Great Warrior who supposedly gave his life for democracy. How did they use this power, by living in luxury, expecting people to be grateful to serve and cater for their every whim and desire. To my horror their shallowness and cruelty was not only restricted to the “Help” it was bestowed frequently sister to sister, mother to daughters. I felt an increasing pity for these unloved women and children, the only real affection seemed to come surprisingly from the families menfolk. I find it hard to see a positive outcome for these women.
Fleeing to AMERICA after the people's revolution (minus Elizabeth and Niaz) they found that they were no longer fawned over or held in the high esteem they were used to in Persia. They still had wealth and their luxurious lifestyle did not really change, however their position of political influence in Persia was not there. Shirin never truly found her place there and even pondered a return to IRAN. I expect that is the case for many first generation immigrants to any country.
Some distance into the book I was waiting for something ‘riotously funny’ to appear and it arrived for me at the intimate waxing event. It will forever be etched in my memory equally funny and horrifying.
The chapter that covered Sheema’s death and her coming to terms with her terminal illness was so wonderfully written. This quote will stay with me and made me think
‘the age you are in eternity is the age you were the happiest’
Overall an extraordinary book, beautifully written with some reconciliation for the women at the end. The hope of a better life and living lay with Bita and Niaz looking to the future and changing their paths, not dwelling on past status and glory , they were intent on becoming ‘New Warriors’.
Would I recommend it, yes! It will make you angry sad and you can if you want to learn a lot about Persian/ Iranian history and the status of women them and now.
