Smile

Partow lives outside Teheran with her husband Jones and father-in-law Haji Barat. Partow is an assistant in a hairdressing salon, Jones is insane and her father-in-law is a war invalid badly in need of care. To get everyday life to function, the family have employed Soleiman, an Afghani, who in various ways is to contribute to giving father and son the help they need.

The story in Smile is told by Partow, but when she gets hold of Soleiman’s diary, the novel alternates between his entries and her own narrative.

With a good deal of gallows humour and great empathy, Alishahi interweaves Iranian everyday life and the political reality before and after the introduction of the theocracy to create a novel that is out of the ordinary.