In The Walled Gardens

Firouz, Anahita. In the walled gardens, New York : Little, Brown and Company (Inc.), c2002.

This novel is set just before the revolution of 1979 in Iran and tells the story of Mashtee, a wealthy unhappily married woman and Reza, a marxist underground revolutionary whose father works for Mashtee's family.  Mahstee and Reza knew each other from childhood, but their lives have taken different courses. The two are worlds apart, until a terrible injustice causes Mashtee to question everything and with newly opened eyes she realises her heart lies with her childhood sweetheart. She discovers a love that has lain dormant for twenty years, but this love takes on more complex and threatening implications as the political situation in Teharan becomes more volatile. This Firouz's first novel and brings to life the tense atmosphere before the Iranian revolution.