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Aria

The International Bestseller

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Aria

Written by: Nazanine Hozar
Narrated by: Neeky Dalir
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

In Iran, 1953, a driver named Behrouz discovers an abandoned baby in an alleyway. When he adopts her, naming her Aria, he has no idea how profoundly this fiery, blue-eyed orphan will shape his future.

As she grows, Aria is torn between the three women fated to mother her: the wife of Behrouz, who beats her; the wealthy widow Fereshteh, who offers her refuge but cannot offer her love, and the impoverished Mehri, whose secrets will shatter everything Aria thought she knew about her life.

Meanwhile, the winds of change are stirring in Tehran. Rumours are spreading of a passionate religious exile in Paris called Khomeini, who seems to offer a new future for the country. In the midst of this tumult, Aria falls in love with an Armenian boy caught on the wrong side of the revolution. And before long she will be swept up in an uprising which will change the destiny of the land - and its people - forever.

© Nazanine Hozar 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Women's Fiction

Critic Reviews

An affecting portrait of the Iranian revolution . . . leaves you simultaneously heartbroken and full of hope
Explores the darkness and hope of a city on the brink of revolution . . . Epic. An impressive debut, not easily forgotten
Warm-hearted, compelling, hugely enjoyable
A sweeping saga about the Iranian revolution as it explodes - told from the ground level and centre of the chaos. A Doctor Zhivago of Iran
Aria is a feminist odyssey, about a girl in a time of intolerance as the revolution in Iran is breaking out ... a poised and dramatic historical novel with contemporary relevance
A beautiful book set against the pains and passions of the Iranian Revolution . . . It is a book about a particular time and place yet also, and perhaps more importantly, about the common hopes and intimate longings of lives so forcibly invaded by national events
Set in a vibrantly depicted Tehran and spanning a 30-year period leading up to the 1981 Iranian Revolution, Hozar's serpentine narrative shows how the inequality and corruption of Iranian society under the Shah gives way to something more sinister...it's a spellbinding debut
This rags-to-riches-to revolution tale about an orphan girl's coming of age in Iran is sweeping, cinematic and oh-so gripping. In it we follow Aria as she searches for belonging and falls in love amid the political tumult of her age
Nazanine Hozar's immaculate first novel follows a group of Iranians in the lead-up to the 1979 revolution and marks the arrival of a major new voice
The skilfully told story of a young woman struggling to find her place in intolerant, revolutionary Iran
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