The Poet's Daughter

"The Poet's Daughter is an engrossing coming-of-age tale of a Persian girl torn between devotion to her father--Bahar, the last icon of classical Persian poetry--and her own relentless desire to fashion for herself an identity as an independent, assertive modern woman. . . The beguiling simple elegance of the narrative never shies away from the harsh and heroic realities of the story." --Abbas Milani, Director of Iranian Studies, Stanford University, author of The Shah "Parvaneh emerges from these pages as a role model for women everywhere who struggle to be heard. . . one of the rings in a chain of liberated women who speak the truth to a world ready to listen." --Shahrnush Parsipur, author of Women Without Men " A touching evocation of a man, a great poet, a powerful political figure, as told by his loving daughter. . . You will learn a lot in this book about Iran and about poetry and about women. You will be deeply moved." --Marvin Zonis, Professor Emeritus, The University of Chicago and author of Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah and the Political Elite of Iran "An absorbing memoir of an ongoing rich life that spanned much of the 20th century and is freshly relevant today--as thousands of Iranians rally in the streets for freedom, singing the anthems of the author's father, Malek o'Shoara Bahar." --Barbara Meade, co-founder and owner, Politics and Prose "Malek o'Shoara Bahar was the enlightened cultural father of all Iranians who lived after him. The Poet's Daughter reveals untold minutia about the hardships that Iran's most prominent poet and literary scholar of the 20th century had to endure in his pursuit of democracy for his country. I highly recommend it to all readers." --Masoud Askari Sarvestani, Ph.D, Editor, Rahavard Persian Journal "I recommend this book to everyone; not only does it weave a beautiful spell with its artful rendering of scenes. . . it speaks of the deep love between father and daughter, as well the inseparability of art and freedom." --Dr. Helene Saraj, Director, Foundation Culturelle Bahar, Paris"