The Persians

Praise for The Persians:

‘This polyphonic novel is brimming with larger-than-life characters … funny, gutsy and confidently written … outstanding’ Diana Evans, 2025 Women’s Prize Judge

‘I found myself lost in this beautifully written novel and laughing as much as I wept’ Pippa Evans, 2025 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction Judge

‘Magnificent … I lapped up its wonderful characterisations, profound insights and vivacious prose’ Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other

‘A richly textured, sometimes tragic novel that’s enormously entertaining’ The Times

‘Unputdownable … an undoubtedly assured debut’ Harper’s Bazaar

‘The word-of-mouth breakout … will have you hooked from the first action-filled chapter’ Stylist

‘Full of outrageous laughter, retaining its fire even in tender moments’ Observer

‘Mahloudji’s moving, madcap saga of women in exile [is] a relentlessly entertaining exploration of Iranian-American immigrant life’ Financial Times

‘It’s impossible to overstate how much I loved The Persians. Funny, sharp and insightful – this book is a triumph’ Lauren Laverne

‘A novel bursting with grudges, gossip and complex personal dynamics’ Mail on Sunday

‘Mahloudji writes with a wisdom and confidence rarely seen in a debut’ Guardian

‘Exuberant, whip-smart, infused with melancholy, tragicomic, huge-hearted and sharp-toothed … A joy of a debut novel by the real deal’ David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

‘A wonderful multi-generational family drama with characters you really care about … I enjoyed it enormously’ Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake

‘Mesmerising … Gorgeously written, with a flair for the comic and characters that dance off the page and into your heart’ Monica Ali, author of Love Marriage

‘An ambitious, glorious feat … darkly funny, richly satisfying’ Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

‘At once funny and profound, sprawling and personal’ Tash Aw, author of We, The Survivors

Sanam Mahloudji was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles after leaving Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Her fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and appears in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, the Kenyon Review, the Idaho Review, Passages North and elsewhere. She was nominated for a 2018 PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers for her first published story.