Book Review; The Stationery Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Last year, I read the historical novel The Stationery Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali and today I'll post my review of the book.

Description from Goodreads

1953, Tehran. In a small shop in a country on the brink of unrest, two people meet for the very first time.

Roya loves nothing better than to while away the hours in the stationery shop run by Mr Fakhri. The store, stocked with fountain pens, shiny ink bottles, and thick wads of writing paper, also carries translations of literature from all over the world. Bahman, with his burning passion for justice, is like no one else she has ever met.

But all around them, as their relationship blossoms, life in Tehran is changing.

Suddenly, shockingly, violence erupts: a coup d'etat that forever changes their country's future, as well as their own.

Marjan Kamali's beautiful novel explores themes of love and loss, and delivers and unforgettable ending.

My Thoughts on the Book

The Stationery Shop of Tehran is such a bittersweet novel about love, loss, and Iranian history. The characters are well-written and I really enjoyed Roya's development in this story, and the author managed to bring the streets of Tehran to life.

That said, even if I think it's well written and all that, The Stationery Shop of Tehran could be a forgettable book for some people. It's not necessarily one that sticks with you for a long time, at least it wasn't that in my case. It may stick with someone else for a while though.