#60 Women Without Men, by Shahrnush Parsipur

 



Booker Prize:  Longlisted for the International Booker 2026

Plot Time and Place:  Iran, 1953

Opening sentence: "The deep green garden, its walls plastered with mud and hay, faced the river, with the village behind it."

Plot summary:  Five Iranian women escape the violence, confinement and patriarchal control of their respective societies and families, eventually converging to live together in a lush, communal garden.

Review:  This is a short novella, but it really packs a punch. I enjoyed the magical realism, and obviously the feminist lens. Some parts, like one character growing roots and turning into a tree, reminded me of Han Kang's "The Vegetarian" (although "Vegetarian" was written much later). It is all a big metaphor for escaping the patriarchy, and how women suffer because of it.

Rating:   4/5


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