Rooftops of Tehran

Table of Contents

 

 

“
Rooftops of Tehran
is a richly rendered first novel about courage, sacrifice, and the bonds of friendship and love. In clear, vivid detail, Mahbod Seraji opens the door to the fascinating world of Iran and provides a revealing glimpse into the life and customs of a country on the verge of a revolution. A captivating read.”

—Gail Tsukiyama, author of
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
and
The Samurai’s Garden

 

 

“In his haunting debut novel, Mahbod Seraji brings humor and humanity to a story of secret love in the brutal last days of the Shah. Set against the background of repression that launched the Iranian revolution, Pasha and Zari’s story shows that love and hope among the young thrive even in the most oppressive of times. Seraji is a striking new talent.”

—Sandra Dallas, author of
Tallgrass

 

“
Rooftops of Tehran
combines a coming-of-age love story with a compelling tale of struggle against dictatorship. You learn a lot about Iranian culture while coming to understand characters with universal appeal. This would make a great movie.”

—Reese Erlich, author of
The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis

 

“
Rooftops of Tehran
evoked many memories, along with tears and smiles, of starry nights on rooftops, long-lost loves, and intense, passionate feelings of anger at the injustices and the absurd excesses of the Pahlavi regime.”

—Nahid Mozaffari, editor of
Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature

“
Rooftops of Tehran
takes an uncommon and refreshing view of Iran and reveals how an American immigrant is born out of a young foreigner’s desperation for self-determination and social freedom.”

—Susanne Pari, author of
The Fortune Catcher

 

 

“What a profound pleasure to discover such solid storytelling and splendid prose in a debut novel. With the voice of a poet, Seraji has told a universal tale of love, loss, and ultimately of hope. It is this hope, most of all, that will linger long after the last page is turned. Thank God for authors like Seraji, who show us that no matter how distant apart our worlds may be, in the humanness of our hearts, we are all united.”

—William Kent Krueger, author of
Red Knife
and the Cork O’Connor series

 

 

“A stirring story about the loss of innocence,
Rooftops of Tehran
reveals a side of Iran understood by few Westerners. An ambitious first novel—full of humor, originality, and meaning.”

—John Shors, author of
Beneath a Marble Sky
and
Beside A Burning Sea

New American Library

Published by New American Library, a division of

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,

Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,

Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,

New Delhi - 110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632,

New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,

Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

First Printing, May 2009

Copyright © Mahbod Seraji, 2009

Readers Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2009

All rights reserved

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

 

Seraji, Mahbod.

Rooftops of Tehran/Mahbod Seraji. p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-101-04661-6

1. Tehran (Iran)—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3619.E7356R66 2009
813’.6—dc22 2008031902

 

 

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

 

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Marian Clark, Tim and Sue Ellen Kane, Sudi Rafian, Kevin Daniels, Kim Levin, Nancee McVey, Laura Hubber, Mojgan Seraji, Mehri Safari, Kamran Heydarpour, Donnell Green, Debbie Shotwell, Nancy Fallah, and Mauni Seraji for your enthusiastic cheers during the course of my writing this book. Each of you, in your own unique way, made me believe that I had a story worth sharing.

Stephanie Howse: my heartfelt gratitude for your keen perspectives and insights, and for the ways in which you keep helping.

My dear Sepi: Your insight helped me unravel Pasha better than I ever could by myself. And thanks for cheering me on all the away to the end.

Thank you to my agents, Danielle Egan-Miller and Joanna Mac-Kenzie of Browne & Miller Literary Associates, for your faithful determination, for never giving up, and for being the catalysts for a life-changing experience. Thanks, too, to Alec McDonald for your editorial help and to Mariana Fisher for your early enthusiasm.

And finally, to Ellen Edwards, my gifted and diligent editor: Thank you for taking a chance on me, and for taking on the responsibility of sharing my book with the rest of the world. Working with you has been the ultimate learning experience.