PERSIAN NIGHTS: AN INDIAN CHILD IN IRAN
Andaleeb Wajid
PERSIAN NIGHTS: AN INDIAN CHILD IN IRAN by By Alaka Rajan Skinner. Illustrated by Shweta Allam, Vishnu Jadhav and Chadrashekhar Aher Speaking Tiger Books , 2024, pp., INR 499.00
November 2024, volume 48, No 11

A slim volume, Persian Nights is a true story told in the voice of an ebullient narrator, the author herself. The graphic novel begins on a startling note with an image of a young girl holding a machine gun, surrounded by what seems like a spinning circle of Molotov cocktails. But before we get to that, we are taken along for a gentle ride with the narrator, where she explains how her family moved to Iran.

With her father being offered the position of professor in a renowned university in Tehran, the narrator describes how she and her mother waited to join him once her baby brother was born. Life in Tehran was exciting and fun, and there was much to marvel over the similarities and differences in food and culture. The narrator’s experiences growing up in a city that was on the verge of revolution is enlightening, especially to readers who have a very vague idea of the events that went on to change the country.

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