Marsha Mehran (1977–2014)
Author of Pomegranate Soup
About the Author
Marsha Mehran was born in Tehran, Iran on November 11, 1977. She migrated with her family to Argentina in 1979 at the time of the Iranian Revolution. She later lived in the United States, Australia, and Ireland. Her first novel, Pomegranate Soup, was published in 2005. Her other works included show more Rosewater and Soda Bread, Pistachio Rain, and The Margaret Thatcher School of Beauty. She died on April 30, 2014 at the age of 36. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Marsha Mehran
Series
Works by Marsha Mehran
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Mehran, Mahsa
- Birthdate
- 1977-11-11
- Date of death
- 2014-04-30
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- novelist
- Short biography
- Marsha Mehran was born Mahsa Mehran in Tehran, Iran. In 1979, at the time of the Iranian Revolution, her family fled the country for Argentina, then emigrated to the USA. Marsha (she adopted the name at age 12) attended a private Scottish school in Buenos Aires and quickly became fluent in Spanish and English as well as Parsi.
She excelled at playing the piano and dreamed of becoming a concert pianist.
Following her parents’ divorce in 1994, Marsha went with her mother to Australia, where she attended high school, then returned to the USA. In New York City, she met and married Christopher Collins, an Irish-American bartender with whom she split her time between Ireland and the USA for 10 years before the couple divorced.
In 2005, she published
her debut novel, Pomegranate Soup, which became an international bestseller, translated into 15 languages and published in 20 countries. The sequel, Rosewater and Soda Bread (2008) -- the second in a planned series of seven books -- also was a hit. The third title, Pistachio Rain, was supposed to appear in 2014 but was never published due to her death that year. Her stand-alone novel The Margaret Thatcher School of Beauty (also known as The Saturday Night School of Beauty) was published posthumously. Marsha Mehran experienced mental health problems in her last years and died a recluse in her home in the village of Lecanvey, Ireland, in 2014 at age 36. - Nationality
- Iran (birth)
Ireland - Birthplace
- Tehran, Iran
- Places of residence
- Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Miami, Florida, USA
Lecanvey, County Mayo, Ireland - Place of death
- Lecanvey, County Mayo, Ireland
Members
Reviews
Three sisters flee Tehran for a small town in Ireland. When Marjan, Behar and Layla take over the former Papa’s Pastries to open Ballinacroagh’s first “foreign” restaurant, they are met with curious gazes and even hostility. Tom McGuire, their next-door neighbor, is furious that his big plans have been thwarted by these “Arabs” and he is determined to bully everyone in town until they girls are run off. But he doesn’t count on the magical powers of the Marjan’s exotic show more recipes, and the intoxicating smell of rosewater and cinnamon emanating from Layla’s very pores.
I really wanted to like this book. Just reading the description made me think of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Mistress of Spices (a book I loved). But this novel failed to deliver the magic it promised. Perhaps this was because of the flashbacks to the sisters’ lives in Tehran; perhaps it was the bully McGuire (and his eldest son, who was equally unsavory), or town gossip Dervla Quigley and her vicious rumor-spreading. Whatever the cause, I just didn’t “feel the magic.” Still, Mehran kept the story moving forward, with suitable tension and a believable outcome. So, I rate it a moderate 3; it was adequate, but I didn’t love it. show less
I really wanted to like this book. Just reading the description made me think of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Mistress of Spices (a book I loved). But this novel failed to deliver the magic it promised. Perhaps this was because of the flashbacks to the sisters’ lives in Tehran; perhaps it was the bully McGuire (and his eldest son, who was equally unsavory), or town gossip Dervla Quigley and her vicious rumor-spreading. Whatever the cause, I just didn’t “feel the magic.” Still, Mehran kept the story moving forward, with suitable tension and a believable outcome. So, I rate it a moderate 3; it was adequate, but I didn’t love it. show less
Marjan, Bahar, and Layla Aminpour are three sisters who fled from Iran in the early days of the revolution. First to London where the two eldest found careers and Layla settled in school. When a violent husband tracked down Bahar, they took flight again to a village in Co. Mayo, Ireland. There they opened a cafe offering traditional Persian food that seemed to have a bewitching effect on some - not all - of the villagers. This was a sweet story with a serious background, considering what the show more sisters had been through before leaving Iran. However, their problems were not yet over in the tight-knit, traditional community in Ireland. Mehran's writing is poetic in places, which pairs well with the enchanting, mystic quality of the ingredients used. Each chapter opened with a tempting recipe mentioned in the story.
The author was born on the eve of the Iranian Revolution that began in 1977 with the overthrow of Reza Shah. Her family escaped to Argentina where they opened a Middle Eastern cafe. Her husband is Irish. show less
The author was born on the eve of the Iranian Revolution that began in 1977 with the overthrow of Reza Shah. Her family escaped to Argentina where they opened a Middle Eastern cafe. Her husband is Irish. show less
The further adventures of the three sisters with a possible mermaid, a pirate radio priest and more food.
It's a gentle series set in 80's Ireland but some of the characters seem to have very little depth. You would need to have read the previous book Pomegranite Soup to really get whats going on. The descriptions of food and smells is where the book really came alive for me, along with the thinking behind certain dishes.
It's a gentle series set in 80's Ireland but some of the characters seem to have very little depth. You would need to have read the previous book Pomegranite Soup to really get whats going on. The descriptions of food and smells is where the book really came alive for me, along with the thinking behind certain dishes.
I really enjoyed this book and its insight to both the Persian and Irish cultures. The author presents very interesting and entertaining character descriptions, although sometimes I wondered why she went into such depth on descriptions of minor characters, but overall I really appreciated the character descriptions. The food was another character, and that was very well described -- I already had an appreciation for Persian cuisine, and these descriptions made me want to hurry to my favorite show more Persian restaurant.
I felt that that the conflicts were resolved a little too neatly at the end, and so the end was not quite satisfying enough for me.
I would rate this book PG-13 because of profanity (especially from certain characters) and because of the descriptions of the atrocities that some of sisters suffered at the start of the Iranian revolution. show less
I felt that that the conflicts were resolved a little too neatly at the end, and so the end was not quite satisfying enough for me.
I would rate this book PG-13 because of profanity (especially from certain characters) and because of the descriptions of the atrocities that some of sisters suffered at the start of the Iranian revolution. show less
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