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In 1950s Tehran, Ellie is only 7 when her father dies. They had lived in opulence, but now she and her mother must move “downtown” to a small apartment with barely what they need. Ellie doesn’t necessarily miss the nice things, but her mother certainly does. She constantly complains. Ellie just wants a best friend.
On her first day at school, she meets Homa, who is passionate, fun, brave, good, and friendly. Homa is not at all what Ellie had pictured as a best friend, and definitely not the kind of girl her mother wants her to hang around with, but they become fast friends. Ellie loves Homa’s family, as well. Their home is nothing grand, but it is filled with kindness and love.
Unfortunately, in a year or so Ellie and her mother have the opportunity to return to their wealthy life, and Ellie loses touch with Homa. Ellie goes to the best girls’ school in the country and becomes one of the popular kids.
Unexpectedly for Ellie, Homa appears at that school their last year there, and it’s not a good surprise at first to have this poor girl at the exclusive school. But the two renew their deep connection soon enough.
They have differing goals for their futures; Ellie wants to marry and have a family. Homa has no interest in becoming a wife. She, much like her father was when she was young, is an activist. She can’t not work to right wrongs and try to make their beloved Iran a better place. But it’s a particularly dangerous time to fight the government. When a misunderstanding leads to a horrible mistake, the two “lion women” face devastating consequences.
I enjoyed this story about two girls who bond in a very sweet friendship. It’s impossible to not love Homa, though most of the book is told from Ellie’s point of view. I appreciated learning more about Iran in the years under the Shah before Ayatollah Khomeini took over; I myself was just about Ellie’s age at the beginning of the story when that happened. So putting together what I knew from history with the information in this book fleshed out the picture for me and, as good fiction does, made it more real.
It’s still astonishing to know that this happened decades ago and Iran is still not free. Women had so many more rights and privileges before the upheaval in the ’70s. And now they are fighting again/still to regain those rights and more. (The book does end mostly in the current day.)
Rated: Mild. Profanity includes an instance of moderate profanity, about 10 uses of mild language, and about a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes references to sex, including one scene where a girl witnesses her mother having sex: details include her noticing their nakedness and some movement and noises. Violence includes references to a woman being raped by a government interrogator; it’s important to the plot but includes no details of the assault.
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