On Sale: Mar 23, 2027
Page Count: 368 pages
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
ISBN-13: 9781454970668

$18.99

$24.99 CAD

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A historically transportive novel about familial bonds and female sacrifice that captures the rich cultural complexities of 1940s Tehran’s Jewish community.

Goli is young and still plays with her brothers in the courtyard and dreams of breaking free from the rules of feminine propriety. But when her father marries her off to an older cousin, a painful cycle of pregnancies and miscarriages pushes her to her breaking point.

Meanwhile, Jasmine lives with the shame and embarrassment of a father whose erratic outbursts make home a turbulent place. Though she longs for education for herself and her sisters, Jasmine’s only escape from her father’s violence is in the confining role of second wife.

As Goli and Jasmine come of age in a world governed by religion and patriarchy, they must determine if a woman’s freedom is worth the broken bridges she must leave behind.

Set under Germany’s occupation of Iran during World War II and chronicling both the rise of antisemitism and the Shah’s modernization regime, Under the Persimmon Tree captures a time when patriarchal dominance made women invisible. In sparkling prose, Aylin Gabbaizadeh spotlights the horrors of child exploitation, child marriage, and the oppression of women, issues which millions across the globe live with and challenge every day.

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Aylin Sedighi-Gabbaizadeh came to the US at age thirteen and learned English from reading Bernstein Bears books and practicing new words with her high school classmates. She has an undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University and a master’s degree from New York University. She lives with her family on Long Island, NY. came to the US at age thirteen and learned English from reading Bernstein Bears books and practicing new words with her high school classmates. She has an undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University and a master’s degree from New York University. She lives with her family on Long Island, NY.