Wonderful, loved everything about this book. Easy to follow. Beautifully written. Great characters. Story very current And good discussion book. Many issues to bring up.

“Shir zan. A woman with the courage of a lion.”

This was a journey of hope and understanding. Ellie and Homa and their lifetime of friendship filled this story from beginning to end. So many details of a place and time unknown to me became vibrant as Ms. Kamali's story and passion for these courageous women showed me that no matter where we are in the world, when we have friendship in our heart, we are all one.

I’m so happy to have had the chance to read the Advanced Reader’s Edition e-copy of The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali; thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books.

*thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my review*

Girlhood. Friendship. Dreams.

If you’re looking for a diverse book or author for your next read, make it this one. Actually, just make this book your next one regardless. What Marjan Kamali has given us is nothing less than a treasure. It is nostalgic. It is filled to the brim with culture and color and flavor. It is emotional. It is hopeful. I dare you to read this book and remain unmoved.

This powerful tale of female friendship in the midst of life, love, and war is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Ellie and Homa are our unbreakable duo—so different in their desires and motivations, but bound together in spirit.

Shir zan. Lion women. The dream of girls everywhere who long to change the world. But the path of that dream is not so easily traversed. This book tells a story of love and shame and betrayal and forgiveness. A story that forces us to acknowledge that our dreams come with a price. But we can still go on, no matter the cost.

The story of these incredible Iranian girls, while so different from my own, brought my own childhood best friend to mind. And in Ellie and Homa’s adventures that drew them together and apart and together again, I found myself looking into a reflection of my own sweet friendship. We are still like them in many ways—mostly in that we want to leave the world a different place in the wake of our ferocity and love.

Kamali’s writing is poignant and beautiful. Her characters leap off the page—your heart will break and your hopes will soar with theirs. This story is utterly gracious and I hope you’ll read it with open arms.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of this book. However, typical for me, I don't seem to get any "reading" done and have become almost 99% audiobook listener. I initially requested this book because I loved “The Stationery Shop” by Marian Kamala and had great intentions of reading it. I ended up getting the audiobook once released and was not disappointed. The narration is great. It was also beautiful to hear snippets of Persian language weaved throughout the book.
This author does a beautiful job introducing a different culture while reminding the reader all that we have in common, even if we live on opposite sides of the world. I confess Iran is not a setting I read much about, I think because it is so complicated and layered. I had a beautician in San Diego in the late 90s named Sima. She escaped Iran in the 70s with her husband, pregnant and one suitcase. I thought of her so often while listening to this book. I look forward to Ms. Kamala’s next book.

The Lion Women of Tehran, is a captivating novel about female friendship in Tehran, Iran. The story starts in the 1950's and follows the life of Ellie which then quickly collides with the life of Homa. Though they are from two very different families, they quickly become best friends. Though there lives take different paths, their connections endure many changes including the very foundation of the country they live in.

This novel was very eye-opening for me. I honestly did not know a lot about the history of Iran and the changes that have occurred just since the 1950s that have had such dramatic impact on lives, especially female. While this story is historical fiction, I found it to be informative and helpful in knowing more about a place and people that I have not read much about. I would recommend it for anyone interested in reading about women's rights, historical fiction dealing with a changing political landscape. Thank you to NetGalley, Marjan Kamali, and Gallery Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

🦁The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

I fell in love with Kamali’s storytelling when I read her second work, The Stationary Shop (of Tehran). Although I don’t typically reach for romance, that novel (which has been dubbed “the Iranian Notebook”) is one of my most memorable reads of all time, and one I’m constantly recommending and purchasing as a gift for friends. So, as I built my 2024 tbr, Kamili’s third novel, The Lion Women of Tehran, made my most anticipated reads list.

This time around, the central relationship is that between two best friends: Ellie and Homa, who come of age in the years between the Iranian coup and revolution. The girls meet in first grade and form a close bond that carries them through separation through relocation, jealousy and betrayal, and the political turbulence of Iran in the 1950s to present day.

Fierce female friendship + historical fiction that teaches me something + twisty turny family drama= my quintessential summer reading taste. 👌🏼👌🏼

If you like books with any of the above themes, I think you’ll love one. If you yourself are Iranian or of Persian heritage, I think you’ll especially connect with this one– all three of Kamali’s novels are set in Tehran and the cultural descriptions of the food, places, and people are so vivid and transportative.

Is it possible I loved this even more than The Stationary Shop?? It’s too soon to tell, but this story is absolutely beautiful and threw emotional punch after punch 🤜🏼💔. I will read anything Marjan Kamali writes, which includes a necessity to now go back and read her debut, Together Tea (!!)

Read this if:
✔️ You’re of Iranian or Persian descent
✔️ You loved A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum or Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
✔️ You loved either of Kamali’s previous books

This book was absolutely incredible! I was in a bit of a reading rut when I picked this up and I’m so happy I did. I loved the nuances of friendship, cultural references and deep dives, and lionhearted women that litter this story. This will without a doubt, be one of my top books for 2024!

After the Stationary Shop, which I must mention I think about DAILY. I was more than excited to read the Lion Women of Tehran. This story both broke my heart and healed me. I very heart heavy story of friendship and family this book is also one that I will not soon forget. For my emotional girlies, prepare yourself. The tears will come but they will bye worth it.

From the author of the The Stationery Shop, comes a new historical fiction read that is a heartfelt tale of friendship, deceit, and redemption set against the backdrop of Tehran, Iran over the span of three decades.

When Ellie’s father dies suddenly in 1950s Tehran, she and her mother must move to a small town that Ellie’s mother continually despairs is beneath her social class. Ellie longs for a friend to meet her in her loneliness, only to find the vivacious and chaotic Homa, who immediately bonds with Ellie, as the pair aspire to set the world on fire and become “lion women.” When Ellie and her mother’s fortunes change and they move back into a more luxurious lifestyle, Ellie begins to forget her sweet friend Homa and the sense of home that she provided her. Yet Homa’s sudden reappearance in Ellie’s world years later will drastically change both of their lives. As Iran’s political turmoil escalates, a single betrayal will shake the foundations Ellie and Homa have built.

Both a coming-of-age story, an homage to friendship, and a historical fiction read centering on Iran, this book has so much heart. This book shows the power of relationships, as well as the power in letting those relationships shape and grow us into stronger versions of ourselves. Overall, such an excellent read that I recommend!

So good! It totally lives up to all the hype. I can't wait to read this author's backlist as well. Even as an infrequent reader of historical fiction, I still really enjoyed my experience with this one. I loved the main character, the themes of female friendship, and the coming-of-age plotline. The writing is stunning and the story is very compelling. Highly recommend!

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
#ownvoices
#gallerybooks

This was a wonderful book of friendship during the difficult days of the 1950s in Iran. This book followed 2 girls from age 7 until they were full grown. Ellie and Homa. They eventually get separated and then also reunited much to the chagrin of Ellie's mother. Homa is poor. Ellie's mother could never accept that they had been poor. And he daughter should never associate with a poor girl.

This book also tell the story of the change over in Iran's regimes and the effects that it all has on the people of Iran. This book is so well done. I want to look to see if this author has any other books out.

#netgalley
#bookstagram #bookrecommendation

I absolutely loved Marjan Kamala’s The Stationery Shop, so I was so happy to receive a digital ARC of The Lion Women of Tehran! It lived up to my expectations. 4.5⭐️

This novel follows the story of two Iranian women, Ellie and Homa. Though their lives are vastly different—Ellie and her mother thrive in their bourgeois life, while Homa adopts her father’s communist ideology—the friends remain tied together by the bond they forged as schoolgirls. The political turmoil in Tehran reaches a breaking point just as Ellie and Homa are coming of age, but before their goals can be realized, a heart wrenching betrayal changes everything.

I didn’t *adore* the ending—it just didn’t give me what I wanted—but the rest of the book truly overshadowed that complaint for me.

The Lion Women of Tehran is a beautifully written story of love, identity, and betrayal, exploring the long-term impact of our friendships and choices. It touches on the relationships between parents and children and what it means to mother in a way that felt true and also new. Perhaps not as important but just as lovely, I adore the way Kamali writes about food.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lion Women of Tehran! Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a beautiful story of friendship between two young women, set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 70/s 80s in Iran. The author does a great job of giving the reader a feel for life in the region through food, music, culture, and conversations. The girls are from very different backgrounds, and thus have differing goals for the future. Even so, they are able to maintain a friendship for many years despite all the obstacles thrown at them. The writing reminds me of another Iranian author- Nadia Hashimi. The author tackles such themes as women's rights, patriarchy, social injustice, class division in a very structured society, political changes in the region. If you's like to learn more about Islamic culture that is not featured on the news, this is the book for you! Thanks to Net Galley foe and ARC opportunity of the this beautiful book.

A lighter beach read about the power of friendships. I enjoyed how seamless the author weaves Iranian history and politics into the story. The food descriptions are to die for. I got so hungry reading this book.

It is however very book clubby, and I can see that this will make a nice beach read, especially with the short chapters. I wanted more depth to the characters—I feel each of them are trying to fit a stereotype.

Also the main focus is on the wealthier FMC’s pov and I was more interested in learning about her friend’s story. Actually, all of the side characters seem more interesting and seem to have a richer interior life than the FMC. I didn’t care much for her POV 😅

This is a story of lifelong friendship, the bond between mothers and daughters, and friends who become family. When Ellie and her mother relocated to Tehran, Ellie was determined to find a new friend. Little did she know, she would meet Homa, a friend that was bold, courageous, and loyal. Despite their different paths as young adults, they always return to their friendship. It is the tumultuous political climate that ignites the fire in Homa and paves the way for a life changing betrayal of their friendship.
These characters and their stories will stay with me for a long time. I felt so invested in their story that it was hard to put the book down. There were a couple of unexpected twists as well. I loved that while being engrossed in the story I was learning about the culture and history of Tehran. Kamali's writing is descriptive and flows beautifully.

The Lion Women of Tehran is a harrowing story of friendship that empathetically examines the different choices of two women over the course of their lives throughout the political unrest of Iran between the 1950s-1980s.

At seven years old, Elehah's comfortable life is disrupted by the death of her father. She and her mother move to a small house in a less wealthy area of town, and on her first day of school, a sweet, passionate girl named Homa claims her as her friend. Their friendship grows stronger as Elehah spends hours with Homa and her family, learning to cook her favorite dishes from Homa's mom.

But when Elehah's mother remarries, she leaves Homa and her life downtown behind her and is thrust back into the lives of the wealthy. Years later, Homa reemerges in Elehah's life and she's forced to face the stark differences between her desire to stay out of politics and Homa's unrelenting desire to fight for women's rights. Over the next decades of their lives, their differing choices and paths both pull them together and apart while testing the deep well of their friendship.

Kamali's beautiful prose takes the reader through devastating, uplifting, empowering and heart-wrenching moments in Elehah's and Homa's lives while highlighting the stark changes women experienced in Iran between the 50s and 80s. Without judgement, she examines two different approaches of what it means to be a Lion Woman, through Homa's idealistic and unabashed activism and Elehah's less political but equally defiant embodiment of womanhood. Kamali also puts on full display how abruptly women's rights disappeared as religious fundamentalists overtook Iran, and the importance of women like Homa inexhaustibly fighting for change.

I fell deeply in love with Homa's unashamed, fighting spirit and Elehah's drive to be more than her mother's daughter, and I will carry both women with me for years to come.

I enjoyed this book SO much. I learned so much about Iran and their culture + history and absolutely adored the friendship between the two MC’s. It’s always unique and refreshing to have a historical fiction novel that’s not surrounding a love story and/or a war but this gave us that and was SO well executed. Her writing is so captivating, I devoured this book in 24 hours because I couldn’t stop thinking about these characters! Highly recommend!!

The Lion Women of Teheran is a captivating coming-of-age story of two friends, which set against the turmoil of the revolution in Iran. The descriptions are rich and the authors does a great job at immersing the reader in Iranian culture. Like with the previous novel, The Stationary Shop, food plays an important rol in the story. Characters are all well developed and layered, showing contradictions and growth through the book. I loved how friendship and resilience are the main focus of the book, and how the author explores themes such as women’s rights, feminism, and activism, connecting them at the end to current events in Iran. “…while to our eyes waves appear suddenly on the shore, their abruptness is an illusion. Waves begin their journey thousands of miles out at sea. They accumulate shape and power from winds and undersea currents for ages.”
This was a five-star read for me and I will be recommending it to others.

Thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for my ARC.

The Lion Women of Tehran is a fascinating historical novel that reminds readers of the struggles of Iranian women in the 1980s that most Americans only witnessed through the television news reports. Author Kamali has presented a stark reminder of of the international fight for democracy. The Lion Women of Tehran is highly recommended for high school and college readers and all discussion groups.

If you’re reading this, you can probably name a book that you’ve read that was so astonishing and powerful that you will forever remember your experience of reading it. You know the one- maybe you gave it your own personal “book of the year” award, surely you keep bringing it up in conversation, trying your hardest to recommend it to everyone who will listen. A book that lingers in your mind, its roots burrowing deep in your heart. Even from the moment that you finish the book, you can recognize it for what it is, a story of a generation. The Lion Women of Tehran is that book.

When I saw it featured in June’s Book of the Month selection, I knew I had to have it. I ran to NetGalley to request it, still bought the BOTM edition anyway, and waited patiently for my Libby hold on the audiobook. At last the stars aligned, and I was ready to read.

Though I knew this would be an amazing story, I was apprehensive to start because I was intimidated about the subject matter, as I previously knew very little about Iranian culture and history. If this is you too: read it anyway. I learned so much about both from this book, and sincerely enjoyed the immersion into a world that is so different in some aspects. In others, especially the steadfast love between the two friends that the story follows, the experience is universal. Their story will make you laugh for their joy and cry for their sorrow; though these characters are fictional, their lives were impacted by very real historical events in Iran.

From the author’s acknowledgments: “With my pen I hope to show you, dear reader, the joys and losses and loves and hopes and dreams and worries of two girls from Iran. I made them up, but they are real to me. I hope you enjoy their journey. I hope in their hopes, you see some of yours. I hope from their tale, you sense that all our hearts are one.” I believe Kamali accomplished all of this and more in The Lion Women of Tehran, and I cannot recommend it strongly enough to each of you.

Many thanks to Gallery Books for the ARC of The Lion Women of Tehran, which is available now.